EP0127538A2

EP0127538A2 - A socket contact for an electrical connector

Info

Publication number: EP0127538A2
Application number: EP84401061A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alan Leslie Schildkraut; Valentine Joseph Hemmer; Robert William Brush, Sr.
Original assignee: Bendix Corp; Allied Corp
Current assignee: Allied Corp
Priority date: 1983-05-31
Filing date: 1984-05-23
Publication date: 1984-12-05
Also published as: JPS59228379A; EP0127538A3; IL71814A0; CA1203592A

Abstract

A socket type contact (20) that eliminates the need for a hood to locate the contact concentrically within the passage (11) of a connector insert (10). One half of the deflectable fingers (22, 24, 26 and 28) of the mating portion of the socket contact (20) extend radially outward further than the remaining fingers (21, 23,25,27) to engage the wall of a passage (11) in the insert (10), thereby concentrically locating the socket contact within the insert (10). The remaining fingers (21,23,25 and 27) are the mating fingers and are adapted to engage a pin type contact upon mating.

Description

This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to a socket type electrical contact mounted within the electrical connector.
Electrical connectors generally include a plug and receptacle, each having an insert of dielectric material provided with a plurality of axial passages within which electrical contacts are retained. The contacts are generally pin and socket type contacts that may be removable to facilitate servicing of the connector. Examples of such prior art electrical connectors may be found in U.S. patent 3,221,292 entitled "Electrical Connector" and issued November 30, 1965. An example of a socket type contact may be found in U.S. patent 3,845,459 entitled "Dielectric Sleeve for Electrically and Mechanically Protecting Exposed Female Contacts of an Electrical Connector" and issued October 29, 1974. The socket type contact may be machined from a solid piece of metal or stamped and formed from a thin flat piece of metal such as beryllium copper. The forward mating end of the socket contact includes a plurality of radially and resiliently deflectable fingers which are adapted to engage a pin type contact upon mating with the other half of ar, electrical connector assembly. In many instances an outer sleeve or hood is located around the deflectable fingers to protect them from damage as well as to provide a rigid member that will locate the fingers concentrically within the passage in the connector insert. If the fingers are not concentrically located within the insert passage damage to the fingers may eventually result during the mating of the socket type contact with a pin type contact. For example, if the fingers of the socket contact are not concentric with the axial passage in the insert they will not axially align with a pin type contact upon mating, causing some of the fingers to be subjected to more stress and pressure than other fingers. Accordingly, many prior art socket type contacts include an outer hood or sleeve to protect the mating fingers of the socket contact and to locate the socket contact concentrically within an axial passage of the connector insert.

Disclosure of the Invention

This invention eliminates the need for an outer hood or sleeve around the mating portion of a socket contact. The invention is a socket contact of the type having a plurality of resiliently and radially deflectable fingers that are characterized by one half of the fingers being disposed radially outward further than the other half to engage the inner wall of a passage in an electrical insert, thereby locating the socket contact within the insert passage. The remaining fingers extend radially inward further than the other fingers and are adapted to engage a pin type contact upon mating with the other half of an electrical connector assembly. This invention is especially useful in connectors with socket contacts having a diameter of about .6 centimeters.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of this invention to eliminate the need for an outer hood or a sleeve around the mating portion of a socket contact.
It is another advantage of this invention to reduce the cost of making a socket contact.
Another advantage of this invention is that electrical contact between a socket and pin contact is established as early as possible upon mating of a connector assembly and hence maintained for a maximum distance during mating and unmating of the connector assembly.

Detailed Description of the Invention

FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional diagram with a socket contact.
FIGURE 2 illustrates an end view of the mating portion of the socket contact shown in FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view of a socket contact mounted within a connector insert.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates an electrical socket type contact 20 having at the mating end thereof a plurality of resiliently and radially deflectable spring fingers 23, 24, 25 and 26. The electrical contact is generally machined from a piece of beryllium copper or stamped and formed from a thin sheet of metal.
FIGURE 2 is an end view of the mating end of the socket contacts and illustrates that one half of the spring fingers 21, 23, 25 and 27 extend radially inwardly further than the remaining fingers 22, 24, 26 and 28. It is the function of the fingers 21, 23, 25 and 27 that extend further inwardly to engage an electrical pin type contact (not shown) upon mating with such a contact.
Preferably, there are eight fingers so that there will be four outer fingers 22, 24, 26 and 28 to locate and maintain the socket contact in a concentric relationship with the axial passage in the insert 10.
FIGURE 3 is a cutaway view of the socket contact 20 located within an axial passage 11 within a connector insert 10. It is the function of every other finger 24,26 to engage the wall of the passage 11 to locate the socket contact 20 concentrically within the axial passage 11 of the insert. The remaining fingers 23 and 25 do not contact the wall of the axial passage 11 in the insert 10 but extend further inwardly to mate with a pin type contact (not shown). Since the only function of the inward fingers 21, 23, 25 and 27 is mating, the taper of these fingers may be such that the forward most portion of each finger 23, 25 and 27 is also the furthest inward portion. This permits the ends of the fingers to be closer to the end of the passage 11 in the connector insert 10 than would be the case where the contact required a protective hood around the fingers. This is because such a hood includes a rolled forward portion for guiding a pin between the fingers which consequently results in spacing the ends of the finger back from the end of the passage to allow room for the rolled end portion of the hood.
While a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made to the invention as set forth in the appended Claims, and in some instances, certain features of the invention may be used without to advantage without corresponding use of other features. For instance, although a socket type contact has been disclosed for use within a pin and socket type electrical connector assembly the socket type contact disclosed may also be used in coaxial type electrical connector wherein there is a need to concentrically locate the socket portion of the coaxial connector. Accordingly, it is intended that the illustrative and descriptive materials herein be used tc illustrate the principles of this invention and not to limit the scope thereof.

Claims

1. A socket contact for electrical connector assembly of the type having a dielectric insert (10) that includes an axial passage (11), said socket contact (20) mounted in the insert passage (11), and comprised of a tubular body having a forward mating portion comprised of a plurality of axially extending and resiliently and radially deflectable fingers (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28) annularly arranged adjacent to each other, the contact characterized by:

an even number of fingers with every other finger (22, 24, 26, 28) extending radially outward further than the remaining fingers (21, 23, 25, 27) and engaging the wall of the passage (11) in said insert (10) to locate the socket contact (20) concentrically within the insert passage (11) the remaining fingers (21, 23, 25, 27) adapted to contact a pin contact (30) upon entry of the pin contact into the forward mating portion of the socket contact.