GB1467381A - Electrical connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

1467381 Two-part couplings ELCO CORP 10 Jan 1974 01296/74 Heading H2E A multiple socket somewhat similar to that disclosed in Specification 1,366,424 comprises (Figs. 1A, 1D) an insulating housing 24 with two rows of sockets 26, adjacent sockets in each row having alternate contacts 18, 20, each contact 18 being opposite a contact 20 in the other row, the mating portions of contacts 18, 20 being at different levels and overlapping to allow the sockets to be closer together than if contacts at the same level were used. The housing comprises a core 22, in which each contact is firmly mounted by its base section 38, and a cover 24 retained by an adhesive, ultrasonic welding, force fitting or by a locking ledge (not shown), the cover including ridges (28, 30, Fig. 1B, not shown) with a tapered lead-in section (32) to spread and pre-load the mating arms of the contacts. The contacts may be formed from sheet metal. The module 14 carrying the male pins 16 may comprise an integrated circuit or a printed circuit board. The substrate 12 into which the tail portion 40 of each contact is plugged may be a metal plate or a printed circuit board. Different embodiments use other forms of contact, contact 90 (Fig. 3) being used at three different levels in sequence, sockets in one row being staggered relative to those in the other row (Figs. 4A, 4B, not shown) while in a fourlevel embodiment using a three-part housing (Figs. 5A, 5B, not shown) each contact 18 or 20 is replaced respectively by a lower or upper level version of the pair of interlocking contacts 132, 134 shown in Fig. 5c giving four rows of sockets, four different lengths of plug pin being required, two of which are shown at 138, 144 in Fig. @