GB1039397A - Improvements in or relating to electrical connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

1,039,397. Two-part couplings. G. BENOIT, F. MAYER, F. MAYER, and P. THOMAS. June 1, 1964, No. 22526/64. Heading H2E. An electrical connector in which a plug mates with an elastically deformable socket provided within a cavity of an insulating housing is characterized in that the socket releasably grips the plug firmly only when the plug has been inserted to a sufficient extent within the socket. In one embodiment the tip of a plug which is inserted in a deformable socket 8 (Fig. 1), arranged within a two-part insulating housing bears on base tabs 21, 22 of a resilient member 20 so that on further insertion of the plug, a restoring spring 16 is compressed and arms 25 of the member 20 are urged to bear on the outer surface of the socket 8 to cause it to grip the plug. The plug is gripped within the socket and the spring 16 is maintained in compression when the ends 26 of the member 20 engage with shoulders 28 provided in a sleeve 14 crimped at one of its ends to the socket. Alternatively, the restoring spring and resilient member may be provided by portions 40, 38 (Figs. 4 and 5, not shown), integrally connected to a socket 31. Other embodiments are described in which a socket closes to grip a plug either by urging resilient arms of the socket to engage with camming surfaces as the plug is further inserted within the socket (Figs. 6, 7, 17, 23, 24 and 25, not shown), or by causing a spring or rigid element to bear on the arms of the socket (Figs. 8, 9, 18, 19, not shown). In further embodiments (Figs. 12-15 and Figs. 20-22, not shown), the plug, after sufficient insertion within the socket, triggers either a pair of bi-stable springs arranged within a pair of contact arms forming the socket or a single bi-stable spring arranged within a socket having a single contact arm to urge the or each contact arm to grip the plug. Each socket may be of such lateral extent that several plugs may be arranged to be gripped side-by-side, independently and releasably within the socket.