IL33029A - Miniature connector - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a miniature connector of the kind having a pin contact and a socket contact and is ed particularly to the pin contact component of such A broad object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive pin contact having flexing contact elements and made as a stamping from a single piece of Another object is to provide a pin contact of the character just referred to in which the contact elements are of cantilever form and thereby possess increased resulting in more effective contact engagement with the socket Another object is to provide a pin contact having a pin member with an effective point of electrical contact engagement adjacent its outer which thereby increases the range of effective mating with the counterpart socket Still another object is to provide a pin contact having a pin member made up of a pair of contact elements having tively overlapping elements at their extreme outer ends forming a novel form of tapered tip effective for improving mating In the FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view a pin contact made according to the present FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view from a angle tive to that of FIGURE FIGURE 3 is an end view taken at line of FIGURE FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken at line of FIGURE FIGURE a partial view of the pin oriented according to FIGURE and its relation to a socket contact and in initial position in mating the and FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE but with the contacts but not fully into their final Referring in detail to the the pin contact of the stood by those skilled in the a plurality of pin contacts are incorporated in a connector plug and a similar number of socket contacts are incorporated in a counterpart connector and upon connecting the plugs the pin contacts enter into the socket in a known The pin contact 10 of the invention is made as a as by a punch press from a single piece of or and all of the elements thereof are accordingly the stamped piece being formed into a generally tubular member which forms the pin This pin contact includes a body portion Ik preferably round in cross and a pin portion or member The body portion 14 is utilized for securing the pin contact to a conductor in the usual as by soldering In the stamping and shaping the body portion Ik is left with a longitudinal parting line 18 on one The pin portion or member 16 is made up of a pair of contact elements 20 extending longitudinally from the body and specifically from opposed elements of the body portion on site sides of the parting line The contact elements 20 tend in free floating fashion from the end of the body and are cylindrical or arcuate in cross similarly to the arcuate shape of the body member at the points of The contact elements 20 are the same or symmetrical and at their outer ends are provided with generally inwardly inclined elements 22 disposed at acute angle to the direction of the main parts 23 of the contact They are relatively offset or as shown in FIGURE 3 and each extends radially inwardly beyond the nal center line of the pin and thus they at least tially The curvature of the contact elements 20 about that longitudinal but they may be relatively straight in the direction of the angle referred The inclined elements 22 form high points 24 at the of those elements with the main parts forming main points of electrical engagement with the socket These it will be are closely the outer extended end of the pin member as will be referred to again The contact elements 20 are self biased radially outwardly away from each the resulting outward movement taking place most pronouncedly in the outer the movement of the contact elements thus being effectively about transverse axes at the points of juncture with the body portion In their normal unrestrained they diverge While the tips of the inclined elements 22 this overlapping relation need not be and due to the normal thickness of the the overlap may be formed by the inner points and even if a slight V shaped notch may be left as indicated at this is negligible from the standpoint of effectiveness of the overlap for inserting the pin member 16 into the socket The socket contact 12 includes a sleeve or contact proper 28 incorporated into the plug referred to above and here identified at which is secured to a conductor in the usual The sleeve may have an outwardly or slight bell entrance end The end of the sleeve 28 is preferably spaced from the end of the socket contact 28 and the latter is provided with a chambered or conical trance surface which with the surface 32 form a somewhat although surface for guiding the pin contact into the socket In inserting the pin contact into the socket contact the pin contact is positioned as represented in FIGURE and then moved ligned as shown in FIGURE 5 If it is so slightly one or the other of the inclined elements 22 engages the edge of the contact sleeve and the respective contact element 20 is moved radially inwardly toward the and if all of the pin tacts in the connector are accurately all of them would be slightly offset as represented in FIGURE and the movement of the corresponding contact elements 20 of all of the contact members would have the effect of moving or shifting the complete to align all the pin members with the contact 0 However if it should happen that less than all the contact bers 16 are slightly the corresponding contact ments 20 themselves would be flexed so that the pin members 16 would be easily inserted into the The transversely rounded shape of the contact elements 20 also assists in aligning them with the In the inserting the inclined elements 22 of course first engage the end of the inner surface of the or if slightly one of them engages one side of the surface 33 and the sleeve the inclined elements until 0 the high points themselves engage the inner surface of the sleeve These high points are closely the outer end of the pin as referred and upon a very slight entry of the pin member into the full and effective contact engagement is established between these high points and the face of the it not being necessary for sertion of the pin member into the sleeve for effective cal engagement This contact engagement continues throughout the full movement of insertion of the pin member into the sleeve which is the greater part of the length of the pin 0 thereby increasing the electrical mating this range being of course the full length of the pin member from the points to the juncture of the contact elements 20 with the may be shaped so that the contact engagement between the pin member 16 and the sleeve 28 remains at the points 24 with the contact elements 20 being slightly diverging outwardly even in fully connected or they may be shaped and proportioned so that together they form a cylinder when in connected position as represented in FIGURE so that the contact engagement tween the pin member and the sleeve extends substantially throughout the pin The effective overlap of the inclined elements 22 prevents 0 any snagging or catching of the contact elements with the outer end edge of the resulting in effective entry of the pin member the Due to the offset relation of the inclined elements neither interfers with the inward movement of the other upon ward flexing or movement of the contact The cantilever mounting of the contact elements 20 provides greater flexibility with consequent more effective electrical engagement with the The pin contact being made from a single gral piece results in an extremely simple device which is 0 respondingly and this is in extreme contrast to pin contacts heretofore made which were most often made of three individual elements secured The construction renders it practicable to utilize a uniform and fixed socket contact with added insufficientOCRQuality

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS 1 · A pin contact including an elongated body portion and a pair of cantilever contact elements free of connection to each other extending longitudinally from the body portion, the contact elements in their unstressed condition diverging outwardly in a direction away from the body portio and together firming a tapered poin ( the outer ends of the contact elements having inwardly inclined parts forming high points for electrical engagement adjacent thereto, the inclined parts being short relative to the overall length of the contact elements and the high points thereby being positioned closely adjacent the outer end of the pin contact; and wherein the inclined parts effectively overlap each other considered diametrically of the pin contact but are offset angularly whereby to enable free inward movement of the outer ends of the contact elements toward each other* 2» A pin contact according to Claim 1, wherein the outer ends of the contact elements are normall spaced apart, enabling movement thereof radially imfardly free of interference from each other* and so movable effectively about transverse axes at their inner ends at their points of connection with the body portion* 3e A pin contact according to Claim 1, made of a single integral piece, and in which the body portion is of tubular form of reception of a conductor to which it is to be connected. 4e A pin contact according to Claim 5 which is generally of tubular form, said contact elements being arcuate in cross section, normally biased to a position in which they diverge toward their outer ends, and movable inwardly toward each other to a position in which h^or outer surfaces lie in a position approaching the form of a cylinder, 5· A pin contact according to Claim 1 wherein the contact ele 1 33Q2§'2 A pin contact according to Claim 4 including a stamping providing the single integral piece, said body portion having a longitudinal parting line at one side, the contact elements together being of subatantlally lees circumferential extent than the body portion and extending from opposed elements of the body portion on opposite sides of the parting line* 7. The pin contact according to Claim 1 in conjunction with a contact sleeve of uniform cylindrical and fixed construction. For the Applicants DR. EINlIOIiD COM AND PARTNERS Λ A