Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
This invention relates to electrical connec-
tors and pertains particularly to connectors for the
insulation-piercing termination of flat multiconductor
cable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
. . . _ . _ . .
One basis for categorizing the myriad of insu-
lation-piercing or insulation-displacing tlDC) connectors
presently known is housing structure. Connector housings
1~ are of several types, a first in most common use wherein
the housing has separately made mutually-movable parts,
including a base and a latchable cover. The base fixedly
supports contacts in common attitude for cable piercing
and the cover is latched in first (open) position on the
base to define with the base a channel through which a
cable may be introduced to have its individual conductors
placed in registry with the contacts. Through the use of
a bench press or like tooling, the base and cover are
displaced toward one another to force the contacts through
cable insulation into gas-tight connection with the con-
ductors, whereupon the cover is latched in second (closed)
position upon the base. In a second connector type, a
separable cover is provided with a full slot for receipt
and retention o~ a cable therein. Contacts pass through
openings in the portion of the cover below the cable,
through the cable and into engagement with the cable con-
- ductors upon being crimped toward a base. In a third
connector type, the housing comprises a unitary structure
including an integral base and cover and provides a channel
for cable receipt and support from which contacts are
spaced during cable introduction. After the cable is
seated in the channel, contacts are ~orced into and across
the channel, piercing the cable insulation and providing
the requisite gas-tight connection.
The matter of providing necessary registry of
individual conduc-tors and corresponding contacts prior to
1 1 775~
l the piercing s~age is more easily addressed in the second
and third connector types as the cable is fully bounded
by support structure which provides position control as
between the individual conductors and housing slots through
which the contact travel is fixed. In the second type
connector, as shown, for example, in U.5. Patent 4,068,912,
the cover comprises hinged sections respectively bounding
opposite sldes of the cable and latched to one another at
ends distal from the hinge portion. The hinged section
bounding the underside of the cable defines contact-guide
passages akin to those found in the unitary housing of the
third connector type above discussed. To this extent, the
'912 approach is seen as a hybrid type, combining features
of the separable cover-base connector with features of the
unitary housing connector resulting in a separable cover-
base connector having a relatively high structural profile.
In the first connector type, as above described
in basic form, the cable is unsupported by the cover and
derives full positional support from the contacts, upon
which the cable rests prior to and during termination.
~arious eforts have been advanced to provide assistance
in the first connector type for cable positional control,
inclusive of elements additive to the cover and base in
the form of adapters and the like applied to khe cable
during preparation of the cable for termination.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention has as its primary object
the provision of a separable cover-base insulation-
piercing connector having simplified cover support for
cable positioning.
In attaining the foregoing and other objects,
the invention provides a connector having a base fixedly
supporting insulation-piercing contacts in longitudinal
succession and a cover latchable to the base in ~irst
position for defining therewith a cable-receiving channel,
the cover including customary continuous longitudinal
~ 3 ~ 117~5~
1 surface for engaging the cable and ~orcin~ same into
insulation-pierced engagement with the contacts in the
course of movement into second latched position with
respect to the base, the co~er further defining cable
support means extending partially longitudinally with the
customary sur~ace thereof and in spaced relation trans-
versely thereof. The cover cable support means provides
free access of contacts to conductors of the cable and,
in its preferred embodiment, comprises a pair of longi-
tudinally opposed ledges disposed below the customary
co~er sur-face ~or engaging the cable. The base is prefer-
ably configured with recesses complemental to the cover
ledges. As is shown below, the cable support ledges may
be provided without requiring any lengthwise expansion of
the connector beyond its length in the absence of the
cable support means.
The foregoing and other features of the inven-
tion will be further evident from the following detailed
discussion of a preferred embodiment thereof and from
the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used
to identify like parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Fig. l is an exploded perspective ~iew of a
connector in accordance with the in~ention, the leftward
portion of the connector housing being omitted for clari-ty.
- . Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the Fig. 1
connector in assembly with a flat multiconductor cable,
as seen from plane II-II of Fig. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:
... . ... . ....
Referring to Fig. 1, connector 10 includes base
12, an elongate body comprised of electrically insulative
material, typically a plastic substance. The base fixedly
supports contacts l~ in common attitude extending trans-
versely outwardly of base upper surface 12a. The contacts
are of insulation-piercing type, such as is shown in
I ~775~4
-- 4
1 detail in U.S. Patent No. 3,964,816 issued June 22, 1976
to Narozny, commonly assigned herewit~, and including
upstanding arms 16 and 18 defining slot ~0 therebetween.
Arms 16 and 18 have sharpened upper ends 22 and 24, adapted
-to engage and pierce cable insulation.
Contacts 14 are arranged longitudinally in
succession in base 12 in laterally spaced rows. As
illustrated, a first contact row has contact 14-1 as its
leftward lead contact, a second row has contact 14-2 as
its le~tward lead contact, a third row has contact 14-3
as its leftward lead contact and a fourth row has contact
14-4 as its leftward lead contact. Such lead contacts
are in respective longitudinally staggered positional
relationship. Thus, contacts 14-1 through 14-4 are in
longitudinally rightward progress and the second contac-t
`in the first row, namely, contact 14-5, is rightward of
fourth row contact 14-4. In the depicted embodiment of
the invention, connector 10 is adapted for seating in a
printed circuit board (PCB), the board ha~iny apertures
for receiving and making electrical connectian with con-
ta~t stems 26 which depend downwardly from base under-
- surface 12b.
Leftwardly of the lead contacts 14-3 and 14-4
of the third and fourth contact rows, base 12 includes a
recess 28 and further defines recess 30 rightwardly of
contacts 14-13 and 14-14 of the first and second contact
rows. The recesses are o~ like stepped con~iguration.
Considering recess 28, it has an expanded width portion
bounded by walls 32 and 34 and in part by end wall 36.
~ lesser width recess portion is bounded by walls 34 and
38 and end wall 40. Latching arms 42 and 44 (Fig. 2)
extend upwardly from opposite ends of the base.
Referriny to both Figs. 1 and 2, cov~r 46 com~
prises a body elongate with base 12 and includes latch
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- 5 ~ 6 ~
1 arms 48 and 50 for engagement with base arms 42 and 44
-to provide the dual latch positioning arrangement dis~
cussed above. The cover has a continuous undersurface 52,
ribbed as at 52a, and is thus adapted to engage a flat
rnulticonducti~e cable and, upon being pressed upon base
12 through suitable crimpiny apparatus (not shown), to
provide for insulation-displacement connection of contacts
14 with cable conductors 55. Latch arm 48 supports ledye
54 in parallel with surace 52, spaced vertically (trans
versely) there-from to define passage 56. Diagonally
opposite ledge 54, latch arm 50 supports ledge 58 in like
manner relative to sur-face 52 such that a further passaye
corresponding to passage 56 is provided. The diagonally
opposed ledges 54 and 53 are adapted to engage the marginal
edges of the flat multiconducti~e cable and hold such
cable in the passages between the cover 46 and the ledges
54 and 58.
The configuration of ledges 54 and 58 is com-
plemental to the configuration of base recesses 28 and 30,
whereby the ledges may freely enter into seated rel~tion
with the base in the course of crimping the cover onto
the base. Such seatiny of the ledges 54 and 58 in the
corresponding recesses 28 and 30 aligns a cable retained
by the ledges relative to the base 12 and provides the
desired registry between the cable conductors 55 and the
contacts 14. As is shown in E'ig. 2, the assembled con-
nector finds the upper surface of ].edge 54 substantially
in the plane of base upper surface 12a. Also, as will be
seen jointly Erom the drawings, such upper ledge surface
extends partially longitudinally and partially laterally
with the cover, i.e., to be outside and non-interferiny
with the multi-row contact array. At the same time,
however, the upper ledge surface is in registry with the
flat cable, underlying cable conductors pierced by con-
tacts 14 1 and 14-2 in the case of ledge 54 and underlying
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-- 6
1 cable conductors pierced by contacts 14-15 and 14-16 in
the case of ledge 58. Accordingly, the ledges provide
the cover with a cable support and retention capabilit~,
yet providing an opening extending therebetween permitting
collective access for the contacts to the cable in the
:~ course of crimping such that a relatively low profile
connector is achieved.
In assembling the connector, the cable is irst
inserted into the cover with its opposed margins situated
in the passages defined jointly by the cover and ledges
54 and 58. The cover may be in the open latched position
above discussed at this stage. In such open or pre-crimp
condition, the ledges 54 and 58 preferably extend partially
into the recesses 28 and 30 providing thereby positive
positioning of the cover relative to the base and registry
of the cable conductors with the corresponding contacts.
The cover is now crimped into contact slots 20. Contact
arms 16 and 18 seat within annular recesses 46a formed in
cover surface 52.
Various changes to the described and depicted
connector will be evident to those skilled in the art.
Thus, ledge and recess configurations although mutually
complemental to provide interfitting thereof may take
shapes other than those illustrated and yet retain the
capability of cable support and retention and have non-
interfering disposition with respect to the contact arra~,
which may itself take a pattern other than that shown
herein. Accordingly, it need be appreciated that the
particularly disclosed embodiment is intended in an illus-
trative and not in a limiting sense. The true spirit and
scope of the invention is set forth in the following
claims.
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