EP0139786B1 - Connecteur à fiche ainsi qu'un boîtier isolant et des contacts pour celui-ci - Google Patents

Connecteur à fiche ainsi qu'un boîtier isolant et des contacts pour celui-ci Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0139786B1
EP0139786B1 EP83112603A EP83112603A EP0139786B1 EP 0139786 B1 EP0139786 B1 EP 0139786B1 EP 83112603 A EP83112603 A EP 83112603A EP 83112603 A EP83112603 A EP 83112603A EP 0139786 B1 EP0139786 B1 EP 0139786B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
terminal
insulator
contact
region
printed circuit
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP83112603A
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0139786A1 (fr
Inventor
J. Preston Ammon
Jerry A. Kendall
John D. Martens
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Elfab Corp
Original Assignee
Elfab Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
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First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=24074388&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=EP0139786(B1) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Application filed by Elfab Corp filed Critical Elfab Corp
Publication of EP0139786A1 publication Critical patent/EP0139786A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0139786B1 publication Critical patent/EP0139786B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R12/00—Structural associations of a plurality of mutually-insulated electrical connecting elements, specially adapted for printed circuits, e.g. printed circuit boards [PCB], flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures, e.g. terminal strips, terminal blocks; Coupling devices specially adapted for printed circuits, flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures; Terminals specially adapted for contact with, or insertion into, printed circuits, flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures
    • H01R12/50—Fixed connections
    • H01R12/51—Fixed connections for rigid printed circuits or like structures
    • H01R12/55—Fixed connections for rigid printed circuits or like structures characterised by the terminals
    • H01R12/58—Fixed connections for rigid printed circuits or like structures characterised by the terminals terminals for insertion into holes
    • H01R12/585—Terminals having a press fit or a compliant portion and a shank passing through a hole in the printed circuit board

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a press fit insulator and terminal combination for mounting into printed circuit boards.
  • the insulator is used to press the contact into the printed circuit board.
  • Each terminal contact is press fitted by means of an intermediate press fit collar region which is engaged by a receiving insulator.
  • the collar region is defined by tabs which are formed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the terminal contact body. Because of the perpendicularly extending tabs which form the collar region, multiple terminal contacts cannot be efficiently stamped from the same sheet of construction material.
  • the intermediate press fit collar regions of the contact terminals require a two step operation for the formation thereof.
  • the terminal structure including the transversely extending tabs, is formed by means of a stamping operation.
  • contact terminals require a second operation wherein an opposed pair of tabs is bent at least once with respect to the longitudinal axis of the contact terminal.
  • the terminal contact depicted in Figs. 14 and 15 is the only embodiment disclosed wherein multiple terminal contacts may be efficiently stamped from a single sheet of construction material, as shown in Fig. 14.
  • the lower two tabs must be bent in separate operations so as to be frontally extending, as shown in Fig. 15.
  • the insulator compatible with this terminal contact embodiment requires four separate shoulders to engage the press fitting edges of the four separate tabs, thereby requiring an insulator of increased complexity, as illustrated in Figs. 16 and 17.
  • the contact terminal embodiment shown in Figs. 12 and 13 multiples thereof cannot be efficiently stamped from a single sheet of construction material.
  • the collar region requires an additional formation step in that the frontally extending tabs must be separately bent to their final position.
  • the insulator adapted to receive this contact terminal embodiment requires separate wall sections having shoulders formed therein to engage the bent frontally extending tabs, in addition to a lower portion of the insulator which undercuts an upper portion thereof to form shoulders which engage the upper transversely extending tabs of the terminal contact.
  • a relatively complex insulator structure is required to engage the press fitting surfaces of the contact terminal of Fig. 12, as shown in Fig. 13. The fabrication of such a structure is inherently more costly due to the necessity of forming press fitting shoulders in each separate wall section.
  • the invention is to a press fit insulator and terminal combination for a connector adapted to receive and be used as the means for press fitting a plurality of contact terminals into a printed circuit board, said insulator including a block of insulating material formed with a plurality of identical compartments along its length, said compartments having offset shoulders associated therewith and said contact terminal including first and second contact ends, and first and second intermediate regions, said first intermediate region adjacent said first contact end.
  • the insulator has at least one shoulder formed in each said compartment.
  • Said second intermediate region on said contact terminal comprises a flat region having at least one punched out tab which mates with the said shoulder in a said compartment when the insulator is used to press fit the terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • the terminal contact of the present invention has a tab, having a flat press fitting surface, which is punched out of or formed from the main body of the contact terminal.
  • a card edge connector insulator 10 has a plurality of contact terminals 12 extending from the bottom thereof. These terminals are of the type that are press fitted into a printed circuit board (not illustrated). The insulator is used to press the terminals into the printed circuit board as hereinafter described.
  • the insulator 10 has two parallel side walls 11 that are connected by transverse walls, one part of which is represented by the numeral 19.
  • a slot 18 extends through the central part of the insulator and along its entire length. The slot 18 has two parallel side walls 15 and a plurality of equally spaced openings 17 in the side walls 15 that extend the length of the insulator.
  • Each side wall 11 has a beveled inside edge 16 for guiding a card into the connector, and the tops of the side walls have openings 14 which are the same in number and are aligned with the openings 17 to form terminal compartments.
  • each of the compartments houses or is identified with a single contact terminal.
  • the end walls 13 of the insulator are such that several connectors may be placed end-to-end to accommodate long printed circuit boards or the ends 13 may be adapted to receive end caps.
  • Figures 2a and 2b illustrate one embodiment of a contact terminal that may be used with the insulator of Figure 1 to provide a press fit connector.
  • Terminal 12 is made of several regions.
  • End 34 is a contact end which is pressed through a printed circuit board and may be soldered to or connected to by a wire wrap tool.
  • a compliant region 33 is the part of the terminal that is press fitted into the printed circuit board.
  • a compliant region is a part of the terminal that will deform upon being press fitted into a printed circuit board and retains the terminal in the circuit board without extreme deformation of the hole and the board surrounding the hole into which the terminal is press fitted.
  • Flat region 30 is designed to have a punched out tab 32.
  • Tab 32 has a flat surface 32a which is used to press the terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • the flat region 30 also has two flat topped shoulders 31 which are also used in press fitting the terminal into a printed circuit board. It is the combined areas 32a and 31 which provide a sufficiently large surface in order to press the terminal into a printed circuit board without damaging the insulator and/or terminal.
  • Terminal 12 has a curved spring end 35, terminating in end 35a, which is used to contact a card edge connector.
  • Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the insulator of Figure 1 showing the terminal 12 in place.
  • the terminal is inserted from the bottom of the insulator so that the curved end 35 extends through opening 17 into the compartment. End 35a is positioned behind inside part of inner wall 15 to hold the terminal in position.
  • the terminal is limited in its upward movement by vertical ribs 36.
  • Each shoulder 31 of terminal 12 abuts against a bottom surface forming an offset shoulder 36a of a rib 36 to limit the upward movement of the terminal.
  • it is, in part, the pressing downwardly of offset shoulder 36a against shoulder 31 that press fits the terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • Side wall 11 has an offset region 37 with a flat top area forming an offset shoulder 37a.
  • the area 37a is also used in press fitting a terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • the offset shoulder 37a presses downwardly against the flat area 32a of tab 32.
  • FIGs 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the various parts used in applying the downward force to press fit the terminal.
  • each terminal resides between two transverse walls 19.
  • Each wall 19 has a rib 36 with a pressing shoulder 36a, providing two points of pressure on each side of the terminal, by pressing against the two shoulders 31. The third pressure point is against the tab surface 32a. This is best illustrated in Figure 3.
  • Figure 5 illustrates the cross sectional view of the insulator without the terminal in place.
  • Figure 6 is a partial bottom view of the insulator which illustrates the three pressing surfaces, the two surfaces 36a, one in each transverse wall, enclosing the terminal compartment, and one in the side wall of the insulator.
  • FIG. 7 A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 7. Illustrated is a multicontact connector that may be press fitted into a printed circuit board.
  • the connector insulator 20 has contact terminals 22 extending from the under side.
  • the insulator has a plurality of sleeves or compartments into each of which a single contact is placed.
  • the compartments are separated in the direction transverse to the length of the connector by walls 24 which extend from the top to the bottom of the insulator.
  • the compartments are separated along the length of the insulator by walls 24a which also extend from the top to the bottom of the connector.
  • Each compartment has a beveled lip around its top opening to guide a mating terminal into the compartment and into electrical connection with the terminal 22 therein.
  • Each insulator may be terminated at each end with a mounting platform 25 and may have a hole 25a therein through which a screw or rivet may be placed to secure the insulator to a printed circuit board.
  • Figure 7 illustrates a three row connector. However, there may be one or more rows, depending upon the number of desired contacts in the connector.
  • FIGs 8a and 8b illustrate one embodiment of a contact terminal that may be used with the insulator of Figure 7.
  • the terminal is an elongated metal terminal with one end 46 suitable as either a solder terminal or a wire wrap terminal.
  • a compliant region 45 is press fitted into a printed circuit board to make contact with circuit patterns on the board and to hold the connector on the printed circuit board.
  • the terminal has a flat central region 42 which has two punched out tabs 43 and 44 aligned longitudinally of the terminal, one tab extending out of one face of the flat . region and the other tab out of the other face. These tabs have flat regions 43a and 44a, respectively, and are used in press fitting the. terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • Figures 13a and 13b illustrate a second embodiment of contact terminal for use with the insulator of Figure 7.
  • the terminal is similar to the terminal of Figures 8a and 8b except that both ends 51 and 52 are straight pin contacts.
  • a compliant region 53 is adjacent to contact 52 and a flat region 54 is between compliant region 53 and contact 51.
  • the flat region has two press shoulders 55 and 56, and a punched out tab 57.
  • the end 58 of tab 57 is also used in press fitting the terminal into a printed circuit board using the connector insulator body.
  • Figures 14a and 14b illustrate another embodiment of a contact terminal.
  • the terminal has a straight pin contact 63 and a wishbone type contact 61, 62 on the other end.
  • compliant region 64 In the central part of the terminal is compliant region 64 and a flat region 65 including press shoulders 66 and 67 and press tab 68, 69.
  • Each of the terminals in Figures 8a, 8b, 17a, 13b, 14a, and 14c may be used in the insulator of the present invention and variations thereof.
  • Each terminal is a press fit terminal in respect of the fact that the insulator is used to press fit the terminal into a printed circuit board.
  • Figures 9 and 11 are cross sectional views of the insulator of Figure 7.
  • Figure 11 is the same as Figure 9 with the terminals removed.
  • the sleeves 23 are separated by walls 24.
  • Each wall 24 has two offset regions 47, 48 formed therein.
  • One offset region 47 is on one side of a wall and the other offset region 48 is on the other side.
  • tab 44 resides in offset region 48 and tab 43 resides in offset region 47.
  • a downward force is asserted on the tap of the insulator.
  • Shoulder 47a presses downward on tab surface 43a and shoulder 48a presses downward on tab surface 44a thereby press fitting the terminals into the printed circuit board (not illustrated). '
  • Figure 10 is a partial cross sectional view of the side of the insulator illustrated in Figure 7. It should be noted that sleeve 23 is tapered, being larger at the bottom and smaller at the top, and when terminal 22 is inserted into sleeve 23, the edge 50 of terminal 20 comes into frictional contact with the side walls of the sleeves. It is the frictional forces between the two that holds the terminal in the sleeve until the insulator and the contacts are press fitted into the printed circuit board.
  • Figure 12 is a partial bottom view of the insulator and with Figure 11 illustrates the location of the shoulders 47a and 48a which are used in the press fitting of the terminals 20.

Landscapes

  • Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
  • Multi-Conductor Connections (AREA)

Claims (6)

1. Combinaison à emmancher à force, comprenant un isolateur (10; 20) et une borne (12; 22; 50; 60) et destinée à un connecteur, l'isolateur étant destiné à loger plusieurs bornes de contact (12; 22; 50; 60) et à constituer le dispositif d'emmanchement à force de ces bornes dans une plaquette de circuit imprimé, l'isolateur (10; 20) comprenant un bloc d'une matière isolante formé avec plusieurs compartiments identiques suivant sa longueur, les compartiments ayant des épaulements décalés (36a, 37a; 47a, 48a) qui lui sont associés, la borne de contact (12; 22; 50; 60) comprenant des premières et secondes extrémités de contact (34, 35; 46, 40; 52, 51; 63, 61) et des premières et secondes régions intermédiaires (33, 30; 45, 42; 53, 54; 64, 65), la première région intermédiaire (33; 45; 53; 64) étant adjacente à la première extrémité de contact (34; 46; 52; 63), caractérisée en ce que l'isolateur (10; 20) a au moins un épaulement (37a; 47a, 48a) formé dans chacun des compartiments, et en ce que la seconde partie intermédiaire (30; 42; 54; 65) de la borne de contact est une région plate ayant au moins une patte poinçonnée (32; 43, 44; 57; 68) qui coopére avec l'épaulement (37a; 47a, 48a) dans un compartiment lorsque l'isolateur est utilisé pour l'emmanchement à force de la borne dans une plaquette de circuit imprimé.
2. Combinaison selon la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que chaque compartiment comporte deux épaulements (47a, 48a) qui sont décalés l'un par rapport à l'autre suivant la longueur de la borne.
3. Combinaison selon la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que la région centrale plate (42, 54, 56) a deux faces parallèles et deux pattes poinçonnées (43, 44), une première patte poinçonnée dépassant à l'extérieur d'une face de la région plate et l'autre patte dépassant de l'autre face de la région plate.
4. Combinaison selon la revendication 3, caractérisée en ce que les pattes poinçonnées (43, 44) sont alignées suivant la longueur de la borne.
5. Combinaison selon la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que les extrémités de l'isolateur (10) sont formées avec une paroi d'extrémité (13) de manière qu'au moins deux isolateurs puissent être placés bout à bout et puissent former un connecteur de longueur voulue.
6. Combinaison selon la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que la seconde région intermédiaire (30; 54; 65) a deux épaulements (31; 55, 56; 66, 67) coopérant avec au moins deux épaulements (36a) formés dans l'isolateur (10; 20).
EP83112603A 1983-08-05 1983-12-15 Connecteur à fiche ainsi qu'un boîtier isolant et des contacts pour celui-ci Expired EP0139786B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US52086983A 1983-08-05 1983-08-05
US520869 1983-08-05

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0139786A1 EP0139786A1 (fr) 1985-05-08
EP0139786B1 true EP0139786B1 (fr) 1988-05-11

Family

ID=24074388

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP83112603A Expired EP0139786B1 (fr) 1983-08-05 1983-12-15 Connecteur à fiche ainsi qu'un boîtier isolant et des contacts pour celui-ci

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EP (1) EP0139786B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS6044983A (fr)
DE (1) DE3376604D1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4691979A (en) * 1983-08-04 1987-09-08 Manda R & D Compliant press-fit electrical contact
US4538878A (en) * 1983-08-12 1985-09-03 Molex Incorporated Solderless circuit board connector
JPS6396776U (fr) * 1986-12-12 1988-06-22
US5588878A (en) * 1995-03-14 1996-12-31 The Whitaker Corporation Electrical receptacle assembly and spring contact therefor
US20090239419A1 (en) * 2008-03-18 2009-09-24 Chamuel Steve R Connector header with wire wrap pins

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3737838A (en) * 1971-11-17 1973-06-05 Itt Printed circuit board connector

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4127935A (en) * 1976-02-20 1978-12-05 Elfab Corporation Method for assembly of electrical connectors
US4220393A (en) * 1977-02-22 1980-09-02 Elfab Corporation Electrical connector and method of fabrication and assembly

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3737838A (en) * 1971-11-17 1973-06-05 Itt Printed circuit board connector

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0139786A1 (fr) 1985-05-08
JPS6044983A (ja) 1985-03-11
DE3376604D1 (en) 1988-06-16

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