GB1413093A - Electrical contacts and connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

1413093 Two part coupling AMP Inc 18 Jan 1974 [30 Jan 1973] 02380/74 Heading H2E To make multiple connections between coaxial cables, mating connectors comprise female contacts 16 or male 16<SP>1</SP> inserted into insulating housings 32, the channel section 23 of each contact 16 or flat section 23<SP>1</SP> of 16<SP>1</SP> entering a passage 34 in which detent 25 or 25<SP>1</SP> latches behind an internal shoulder (35, 35<SP>1</SP> in Fig. 5, not shown). Cables 2 have a braided or metallized plastics outer conductor traced by a bare "drain" wire 10, inside an insulating sheath. Grooves 38, rising from near the centre plane of housing 32 at the rear, over a hump (37, Fig. 5, not shown) and branching into twin grooves 40, 42, carry cables 2; the inner conductors and drain wires are led down separate branches and are inserted into and are trapped by slots 24 in side-by-side female contacts 16 or slots 24<SP>1</SP> in male contacts 16<SP>1</SP>. Traylike cover-plates 44 are clamped by bolts through holes 58, 51 on both faces of housing 32, the rear edges 50 forming cable grips, recesses 56 co-operating with humps (37) in grooves 38 to clamp the cables additionally, and leading edges 54 forming a contact shroud. In the male-contact connector, edges 54 are modified to form a wider shroud fitting outside that of the female-contact connector. On mating, strips 22<SP>1</SP> of the male contacts 16<SP>1</SP> enter between the spring contact arms 26 formed in the widened ends of the side walls 20 of the the female contacts 16. In a second embodiment (Fig. 8, not shown) connectors with female-contacts, arranged in a stack of housings with a cover-plate at each end, each connect a coaxial cable to a pair of contact pins projecting from the face of a printed circuit board. Spring arms 26 on the contacts 16 are bowed inwards to engage the pins. In a third embodiment (Figs. 9, 10, not shown) uncut coaxial cable is bared over a short length, leaving only inner conductor and drain wire, and is fed down a branched groove in a connector housing and up a similar groove on the opposite face, the inner conductor and drain wire being led down their respective branches and through slots 24 in side-by-side female-contacts, again with bowed spring arms 26. The whole connector, formed from the housing inside an insulating casing, allows a tapping to be made along the length of the cable to a pair of contact pins. Cables other than coaxial may be connected by the connectors.