GB2079071A

GB2079071A - Socket connector

Info

Publication number: GB2079071A
Application number: GB8115346A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Deutsche ITT Industries GmbH; ITT Industries Inc
Current assignee: TDK Micronas GmbH; ITT Inc
Priority date: 1980-06-26
Filing date: 1981-05-19
Publication date: 1982-01-13
Also published as: ES268064U; EP0042970B1; EP0042970A1; DE3172117D1; ES268064Y; DE3023934A1; GB2079071B

Description

SPECIFICATION Socket connector The invention relates to a socket connector having an insulating body with a number of open-ended contact cavities each of which can receive a contact spring. German Petty Patent (DE-GM) 7 705 029 shows a socket connector whose insulator body contains slot-like contact cavities, with one single-legged contact spring in each cavity. This contact spring engages a pressure member supported in a vertically displaceable manner and which, after the insertion of a contact pin presses the spring leg against the contact pin upon actuating a slide. This causes the contact pin to be clamped between one wall of the contact cavity and the spring leg. In another known socket connector, see German Offenlegungsschrift (DE-OS) 2 222 359, the casing of the connector consists of a plate of insulating material containing upwardly extending contact springs, and a cap-shaped insulator body arranged thereon and containing the contact cavities which are open on their bottom sides. The cover wall has recesses associated with each of the contact cavities, for inserting the contact pin. The contact spring which, when looked at in the plug-in direction, has an undulated shape, is so secured in the plate of insulating material that both ends of its spring leg are applied to one side of the contact cavity. The convexly bent spring portion is near the opposite wall of the cavity. Between this wall and the bent spring portion the contact pin is inserted. It is an object of the invention to provide a simple socket connector which is cost-effective in manufacture, and which permits reliable connections to be made using relatively thin contact pins. According to the invention, there is provided a socket connector having receptacles, for the reception of the contact pins of a cooperating plug connector, wherein singlelegged contact springs are retained in contact cavities of an insulator body, each said cavity and its said contact spring forming a said receptacle, wherein the contact springs, when in the inoperative position, each has its contact-making spring end biased to one side in its contact cavity, and wherein the said receptacles each has a part of a space of a contact cavity which is completely open on the plug-in side, and a guide groove cut into the onepiece insulating body on the side of said cavity towards which the contact spring is initially urged and wherein said guide groove has a width narrower than that of the contactmaking end of the said single-legged contact spring. Such an arrangement offers various advantages. Since the insulator body of the socket connector is a one-piece design, only one injection moulding tool is needed. The guide grooves which are made during the moulding ensure a reliable reception of the contact pins, which can thus only be plugged in in a flush mounting alignment. Moreover, the guide groove ensures that the surfaces of the contact springs for the contact-making do not come in touch with the insulator body itself. Hence the spring leg can have an arbitrary initial tension (bias) towards the interrupted wall of the contact cavity, to achieve an excellent contact-making after the plugging-in of a plug connector. The contact cavity, which is open on the plug-in side, with its lateral slots, in connection with the correspondingly designed base member of the contact spring, permits the simple forced-fit mounting. Further, the individual contact springs can be easily replaced even in the case of a firmly assembled socket connector. An embodiment of the invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a cross-section of a socket connector embodying the invention with the contact pin inserted, Figure 2 is a perspective view of one contact spring as used in the connector of Fig. 1, and Figure 3 is a perspective view of a part of a connector as in Fig. 4, cut away to show the contact spring inserted into a contact cavity. In Figs. 1 and 3 the socket, indicated by the reference numeral 1, consists of an insulator body 2 injection moulded in one piece, and having several contact cavities 4 each containing a contact spring 3. The cavities 4 are arranged in two rows extending parallel to one another, and serve to receive the contact pins 5 of a complementary plug connector. As can be seen from Fig. 2, the contact spring 3 is single-legged. It consists of a relatively wide base member 6 with a narrower spring leg 7, the sheet metal thickness thereof being thinner than that of the base member 6. From the edge of the base member, the spring leg 7 extends slantingly. The spring end 8 which is again wider, is bent back from the leg's plane, thus forming the contact-making area of application. On the side of the base member 6 opposite to the spring leg 7 there is the contact terminal 9, which as shown is a wire-wrap post. To achieve a certain resilience, the base member 6 has a slight cut-out at its lower end, and the contact terminal 9 is bent out on the side comprising the contact-making portion of the spring end 8, so that two short freely exposed tags 10 are formed. Such contact elements can be manufactured by being suspended from a tape, or else also individually, can be fed to the socket body automatically, for insertion into the contact cavities thereof. The contact spring 3 can be mounted with the aid of its base member 6 in the insulator body 2 of the socket connector 1 . During the assembly, the base member 6 is pushed from the plug-in side 11 of the body 2, with its contact terminal 9 ahead, into two diametrically arranged slots 12 in the contact cavity 4, which cavity is completely open at its top end, until meeting against the bottom part. As shown in Fig. 1, the slots 11, for facilitating assembly, are somewhat wider at their open ends, and somewhat narrower at their lower ends than would correspond to the thickness of the sheet metal of the base member 6. When completely assembled, the contact terminal 9 extends through a corresponding borehole 13 in the lower part of the insulator body. This borehole is formed in an injection moulded stud 14 associated with each of the cavities 4, from which the end of the terminal protrudes freely. The borehole 13 for the contact terminal 9, is in alignment with the receptacle for the contact pin 5 of a plug connector when the connectors are mated. The receptacle into which the contact pin 5 is inserted consists of part of the space of the cavity 4, in which the spring leg 7 is freely deflectable, and of a guide groove 15 which prevents laterally misaligned insertion. This guide groove 15 is cut with a width narrower than that of the end of the contact spring 3. It is on the side of the cavity in the insulator body 2, towards which the spring leg 7 is urged initially. To make sure that the contact pressure thereof can become fully effective in function, the depth of the guide groove 15 is such that the contact pin 5 on entering the receptacle, reliably lifts the spring leg 7 or its contact-making spring end 8 off the wall of the contact cavity.

Claims

1. A socket connector having receptacles, for the reception of the contact pins of a cooperating plug connector, wherein singlelegged contact springs are retained in contact cavities of an insulating body, each said cavity and its said contact spring forming a said receptacle, wherein the contact springs, when in the inoperative position, each has its contact-making spring end biased to one side in its contact cavities, and wherein the said receptacles each has a part of a space of a contact cavity which is completely open on the plug-in side, and a guide groove cut into the one-piece insulator body on the side of said cavity towards which the contact spring is initially urged, and wherein said guide groove has a width narrower than that of the contact-making end of the said single-legged contact spring.

2. A socket connector as claimed in claim 1, and wherein said contact spring between its spring leg and its contact terminal portion has a base member by which it is secured in two diametrically arranged slots in its said contact cavity.

3. A socket connector as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said guide grooves in said contact cavity of said insulator body are wider at the plug-in-sided beginning, and narrower at the bottom of the cavity than would correspond to the sheet metal thickness of said base member of said contact spring.

4. A socket connector as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the said base member of a said contact spring has a cut-out at its lower end, and wherein its said contact terminal is bent out of the sheet metal plane.

5. A socket connector substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. A socket connector having receptacles for the reception of the contact pins of a cooperating plug connector, wherein singlelegged contact springs are each retained in a contact cavity in a one-piece insulator body, each said cavity and the contact spring retained therein forming a said receptacle, wherein the contact springs are each made from flat strip and each contact spring, when in its inoperative position, has its contactmaking end spring-biassed to one side of its contact cavity, wherein each said receptacle has the end of its contact cavity at the plug-in end completely open for the passage of a contact pin of a co-operating plug connector, wherein a guide groove is cut into the onepiece insulator body on the side of each said contact cavity towards which the contact spring in that contact cavity is initially urged, said guide groove serving to guide the entry of a contact pin of a co-operating plug contact, and wherein each said guide groove has a width which is narrower than the width of the contact-making end of the contact spring in its said contact cavity.