Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
MULTI CONTACT CONNECTOR H~ING GROUND TERMINAL
BLOCK AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME
This invention relates to a multi contact
connector having a ground terminal block and a method of
manufacturing the same.
The background of the invention will be
discussed in detail hereinbelow.
It is a primary object of the invention to
provide an improved multi contact connector having a
ground terminal block and a method of manufacturing such
a multi contact connector, which completely eliminate
all the disadvantages of the prior art.
In order to achieve this object a multi
contact connector according to the invention comprises a
ground terminal block having branched connections, and a
connector portion having a plurality of contacts, said
branched connections of said ground terminal block being
connected to some of said contacts of said connector
portion to be grounded.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention
there is provided a method of manufacturing a multi
contact connector which has a ground terminal block
portion having branched connection elements and a
connector portion having a plurality of contacts wherein
the branched connection elements are connected to
selected ones of said plurality of contacts which are to
- 2 -
be grounded, said selected ones being determined bycircuit configurations in which said connector is used,
said method comprising the steps of: separately
producing said connector portion; producing said ground
terminal block having a main element consisting of an
elongate flat metal plate for connection to selected
wires of a flat cable whose wires are parallel and
spaced apart, and branched connection elements,
arranged in the plane of the main element and oriented
perpendicular to the main element, the branched
connecting elements having distal ends, and contacting
the distal ends of the branched connector elements to
said selected ones of said plurality of contacts.
According to a preferred embodiment of the
invention, in a process of producing said ground
terminal block, a ground terminal block having branched
connections at different locations according to
requirement of a circuit to be connected is produced
every time when the contacts to be grounded are changed,
or a ground terminal block having a great number of
branched connections commonly formed for requirement of
various circuits is produced and then unnecessary
branched connections are removed to form a ground
terminal block having the branched connections only
required for requirement of a specific circuit to be
connected.
The invention will be more fully understood by
referring to the following detailed specification and
~ 3 ~
12~ 33~
claims taken in connection with tha appended drawings.
Figs. 1, 2a and 2b and 3 are perspective views
for explaining connectors of the prior art;
Figs. 4a, 4b and 4c are perspective views
illustrating the method according to the invention; and
Figs. 5a and 5b are side`views of an
application example of a connector portion of the
connector according to the invention.
Detailed DescriPtion
A multi contact connector has been used, whose
series of contact l includes some contacts la previously
determined to be grounded in accordance with a circuit
to be connected and integrally formed with a ground
terminal
- 3a -
B
2~i~383~
block lb for commonly connecting the same contacts la as
shown in a perspective view of Fig. 1.
With such a connector, however, use is limited to
a particular circuit. Therefore, it is impossible to use
the connector for another circuit different in position of
contacts to be grounded, unless a new connector is
manufactured to meet the different position of the
contacts. As the result, new punching dies for contacts
are needed whenever circuits to be connected are changed.
It is very troublesome and tends to increase manufacturin~
cost. These disadvantages are particularly acute in a
multi contact connector including contacts in two rows Eor
tape wires as shown in Fig. 2a.
In a connector shown in Fig. 2a, positions of
contacts to be grounded of first and second series of
contacts 1 and 1' are not aligned with each other.
Moreover, it is required to arrange distal ends la of the
first series of contacts 1 in alignment with distal ends
la' of the second series of contacts 1' in order to
facilitate the connection of the flat cables as shown in
Fig. 2a. It is furthermore required to commonly connect
ground terminal blocks lb and lb' of the first and second
series of contacts 1 and 1' as by welding 2. To meet
these requirements, two kinds of series of contacts 4 and
4' different in shape of ground terminals must be
manufactured as shown in Fig.2b. Moreover, the shapes of
ground terminals must be changed every time when positions
of the ground terminals are changed.
In addition, a further process is needed for
3~ commonly connecting the ground terminal blocks lb and lb'
of the first and second series of the contacts 1 and 1' at
several locations as by welding, so that there is a great
~ 12688~
difficulty in manufacturing in comparison with the
connector having only one series of contacts as shown in
Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 2b, furthermore, extra members
are necessary such as connecting pieces 3 and 3' and
respective series of contacts 4 and 4' having ground
terminal blocks lb and lb'. Accordingly, this connector
cannot be manufactured by a method wherein a series of
contacts 4 is inserted into contact receiving and fixing
apertures 5a formed in an insulating housing 5 and fixed
therein and thereafter a connecting piece 3 is removed by
cutting along a broken line as in a connector having no
ground terminal block as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, the
series of contacts 4 and 4' forming the first and second
series of contacts 1 and 1' are unavoidably formed by
insulating resin molding.
As a result, it is necessary to position the
series of the contacts with high accuracy in order to
avoid damage to the contacts in connecting the connector
with a mating connector, with resulting increased
troublesome in production. Moreover, as the contacts are
fixed to the molded resin, damaged contacts cannot be
replaced or repaired.
Figs. 4a, 4b and 4c illustrate one preferred
embodiment of the invention. According to the invention,
a connector portion 6 and a ground terminal block 7 are
separately made as shown in Fig. 4a. When contacts to
.~`
33~
be gro~mded are ~hanged in acco~dance of a clrcuit to
be connected, one g~ound ter~inal block 7 is provided)
which co~prises branched ~onnec~ions 7a to be c~nnected
to the contact to be ~rounded and ls common to a ~irst
05 and ~econd series of contacts l and l ~ The ground
terminal block 7 is connected to ~i~tal ends of required
contacts of the connector portion as by weldin~ as
shown in Fig. 4b to form a connector having the requi~ed
ground terminal block.
1~ Every ~ime when contacts to be grounded in
series of cont~cts a~e changed ac~ording ~o a requirement
of a circuit to be connec~ed, a new ter~inal block 7
having branched connec~ions at d~fferent loc~tions may
be made in accordance wit~ the c~nged contacts to be
g~ounded. However3 this is troublesome and differe~t
die~ ~or fonming the ground terminal blocks are needed
every tl~e when the locations of ~he branched connections
are changed. To avoid this, common ground terminal
block~ 7 having a great numbe~ of branch~d connec~lons
20 are preferably ~ade as shown ir~ Fig. 4~. According to
require~ locations of branched ~onnections, required
branched connections are retalned and the other un-
nece~sary branched connectlons are removed to obtain a
~roun~ termlnal block requi~ed for a connection.
In this manner only one kind of ground terminal blocks
7 may b~ prepared for va~iou~q connecto~s r~quired ~o
have differen~ location3 o~ brsn~hed ~onnections.
Accordin~ to the invention ~L3 ~bove ~e~cribed,
- 6 -
B~
~t ~ ~ufficient that ground terminal blocks 7 diff~ren~
in shape are made ~ccordin~ ~o requirements of respective
conn~ctor8 and connected to the connec~or po~tions 6,
even i contacts to be grounded are changed. Aceordlngly,
05 connector portions 6 the same in con~ruction can be
commonly u~ed wi~hout making connectors includin~ two
serles of contact~ and having ground ter~ninal blo~ks
different in shape to meet re~pective requirements a~
in the prio~ art. Mo~eover, ~ccording to the inverl~ion,
~0 only one ground terminal block 7 is required common to
distal ents la and la' of first and second series.of
~ontacts aligned ln rectilinear ~ows. ~ the res~lt,
costs of dies and materials to be used a~e redu~ed in
comparison w~th those of the prior art and manufacturin~
of connec~ors an~ mana~ement of stocks ~re facilitated.
In addition thereto, according to the invention,
as the ~ont~ct~ are not needed to have a ~round termin~l
blo~k 7J ~he assembling method the same as that shown
in Fig. 3 for forming the connector portion 6 by inse~-
20 ing and fixing a series of contacts into fixing apertu~sS~ of an insula~ing housing 5 can be used. Therefore,
lt is posslbl~ to avoid the difficulty in man~facturing
in the prior ~rt ~uch as the accura~e positio~ing of
two series of cont~ts i~ rnoldi~ ~o achieve the
2S alignment with a mating connector. ~4t the same l;}me,
sc~r~in~ to the invention, repl~ement and rep~iring
can ba easily ~arried out a~ will.
According to the invention 9 moreover, as the
Z ~ ~ ~3~
conta~ts do not have a ground ~erminal block, the
~econd series of contacts are inserted reverYely to the
first serie~ o contacts into fi~ing ~pertures 5~ to
form a connector portion 6 havin~ ~he first and se~on~
05 series of contacts having the s~e shape, From this
viewpoi~t, s~vi~g of material co~t, facilitatin~ of
~anufaclu~ing and reduction of the number o~ parts are
accomplished.
According to the invention, furthermore, as
lo the connector por~ion 6 and the ground ter~inal block 7
~re in~ependent from e~ch ot~er, a connector can be
made as so-c~lled "solder-dlp type ~onnector". This type
connector i~ produced by cutting dls~ ends la and la'
of ~ontacts of the connecto~ portlon 6 along ~ broken
line in ~1~. 5a and then by inserting ~he cut di~tal
ends into insert ~pertures ~a formed in current con~uct-
ing por~ions of a print circuited board 8 to be ~oldered.
Moreover, the invention can be applied to usual connectors
including w~re~ sol~ered thereto. In this manner,
connector for va~ious applica~ion9 C~n be produced by
co~monly using manufacturing in9~allation$ ~ thereby
eon~ributing relationali7~tion of work and reduction of
kind~ of produc~s. Moreov~r, the manuf~et~ring method
a~cording to the ~nvention provides inexpensive multi
contact con~ecto~s.
While the invention ha~ be~n p~rticul~rly
~hown ~nd described with reference to preferred e~bodi-
~ent~ thereof, it will be understood by those skilled
- 8 ~
~- 126~383~
in the ~r~ ~at the foregoing and o~her Ghanges in form
and details ~an be made ~he~ein without departing from
the spirit and scope of the ~nvention.
~5
~o
2j
g ..
