EP1148588A2

EP1148588A2 - Contact socket

Info

Publication number: EP1148588A2
Application number: EP01300887A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hans Jost Heimuller
Original assignee: Tyco Electronics AMP GmbH
Current assignee: TE Connectivity Germany GmbH
Priority date: 2000-01-31
Filing date: 2001-01-31
Publication date: 2001-10-24
Also published as: EP1148588A3

Abstract

A contact socket of single-part construction has a base spring (1) and two spring legs (12) which are integrally formed on the base spring (1) and both spring legs (12) have contacting sections (4), facing each other where, as a result of the single-piece construction, the manufacturing process of this contact socket can be optimized and, additionally, one of the spring legs (12) may include an additional spring member (3), in order to increase the resilient force.

Description

The present invention relates to a contact socket having opposing contact arms.
Known contact sockets have a complicated construction and are therefore difficult to manufacture. These known contact sockets are expensive to manufacture.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a contact socket allowing the design of a simpler manufacturing process and which thereby entails lower costs.
This object is achieved by a contact socket having a single-part construction, comprising a base spring having two inner spring legs with opposing contacting sections that approximately face each other, characterized in that one of the spring legs is formed at a free end of one spring element where, in layout, the free end of this one spring leg extends in a direction opposite to the free end of the other spring element.
Accordingly the contact socket, which is of a single-part construction, comprises a base spring (or a base part) and two internal spring legs, the contacting sections of which essentially face each other.
The single-part construction allows the optimization of the manufacturing process which consists essentially of a bending operation and/or stamping operation.
A further advantage of the contact socket according to the invention is that the resilient force on one of the two spring legs can be relatively easily increased in that a spring member is foreseen which is also formed integrally on the base spring and on the free end thereof one of the spring legs is formed. The free spring length can be considerably increased.
The present contact socket will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a contact socket in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 shows a further cross-sectional view of the contact socket according to Figure 1; and
Figure 3 shows a layout of the contact socket according to Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 1 and 2 show a contact socket in accordance with a preferred embodiment, whereby here a lateral cross-sectional view of a base spring 1 is shown, on which two spring legs 12 are foreseen, which essentially face each other with their contact sections 4 on the inside of the base spring 1.
According to this embodiment, an external latching tongue 8 is formed on the base spring 1. The spring legs 12 lie inside base spring 1. According to the view of Figure 1, a facing second (lower) spring leg 12 is positioned on the base spring 1 opposite the first (upper) spring leg 12 such that the contact sections 4 of spring legs 12 face in the plug-in direction. It can be clearly seen from Figures 1 and 2 that spring legs 12 are completely accommodated inside the base spring 1. The latching tongue 8 protrudes upwards at an acute angle of approximately 5°. The two spring legs 12 form a readily resilient contact metal piece by which current is directly, and therefore more efficiently, conducted.
Figure 3 shows the layout of the base spring 1. This view is not to scale. The layout of the base spring 1 with integral spring legs 12 has a compact form resulting in reduced loss of sheet metal during stamping. On the base spring 1 a projection 10 is additionally foreseen which is bent approximately at a right angle from base spring 1, as shown in Figure 2, to form a polarisation of the contact socket.
The contours of the layout of base springs 1 are preferably stamped out of flat metal, or possibly cut by laser. After the stamping operation, the individual base springs 1 are separated and each bent and/or pressed, until the state as shown in Figures 1 and 2 is created. The base spring 1 can preferably be soldered by means of laser, such that a solder pad is set on at least one location on the tool from the top in order to fix base spring 1.
The construction of the present contact socket according to the invention, in particular through the cooperation of both spring legs 12, allows creation of the relatively high resilient force whereby an improved spring action of the spring components can be achieved.
In the contact socket shown, in order to further increase the spring action, the one spring leg 12 is formed on one free end of one spring member 3. This spring member 3 is formed as a relatively large spring (as compared with the outside measurements of base spring 1) by means of a free punch 5 and is connected to the base spring 1 via a base 11. In order to increase the pre-tension force of this spring member 3, a pre-tension stamping 2 is foreseen in the region of this base 11 which gives spring member 3 a higher resilient force. The lower spring leg 12 is formed at the free end of the spring element 2 and is brought into the shape according to Figure 1 by forward folding or bending. The upper spring leg 12 is formed on the top border of the base spring 1 by backward folding.
Finally, several tabs 7 are formed on both sides of an insertion opening for a contact pin (not shown), which tabs show outwardly rounded contours and facilitate the insertion of the contact pin. In the lower region of the insertion opening an edge section 9 is foreseen, which also comprises an outwardly rounded contour and serves the same purpose.
The consumption of material in the shown embodiment of the contact socket according to the invention is minimised, as the loss of sheet metal during stamping is reduced. As is shown in the layout according to Figure 3, there is little stamping residue.
In summary, the contact socket according to the invention, which is of a single-part construction, comprises a base spring 1 and two spring legs 2 which are integrally formed on the base sleeve 1. Both spring legs 12 comprise contacting sections 4, essentially facing each other. As a result of the single-piece construction, the manufacturing process of this contact socket can be optimized. In addition, one of the spring legs 12 is foreseen on an additional spring member 3, in order to increase the resilient force.

Claims

A contact socket, which is of a single-part construction, comprising a base spring (1) having two inner spring legs (12) with opposing contacting sections (4) that approximately face each other, characterized in that one of the spring legs (12) is formed at a free end of one spring element (3) where, in layout, the free end of this one spring leg (12) extends in a direction opposite to the free end of the other spring element (3).
The contact socket according to claim 1, characterized in that the base spring (1) comprises a latching tongue (8) which protrudes to the outside of the base spring (1).
The contact socket according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that spring legs (12) are formed by being bent in an essentially U-shaped manner.
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that both free ends of the two spring legs (12) extend in the opposite direction.
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the base spring (1) is made of a copper alloy.
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the free end of the spring leg (12), that is formed on the free end of the spring element (3), extends in the same direction as the free end of spring element (3).
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that on the base spring (1), in the vicinity of base (11) of the spring member (3), a pre-tension stamping (2) is formed, which pre-tensions spring member (3).
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that a polarisation is formed on the base spring (1) in the form of a projection (10).
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the base spring (1) is fixed in the final state by at least one laser soldering point.
The contact socket according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the base spring (1) is fixed in its final state by pressing of at least one projection (13) in an aperture (14).