JPS60165071A - Contact connecting device and method of mounting contact in contact connecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a contact connection device, for example in the form of a printed circuit card connector or in the form of a connector for connecting electronic circuits, and to a method for installing said contacts in the device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Different types of connecting devices or connecting elements are already known in which a plurality of metal contacts are housed in individual housings formed in an insulating support or case. The individual metal contacts have an actual contact element, a male contact, e.g. a bottle, or a female contact, a body received in a housing, a conductor or It includes an output or contact lug extending from the body and exiting the housing support for connection to a circuit.

Different devices for retaining individual contacts within their housings have already been proposed. Therefore, a plurality of widely open housings are provided, into which the body is inserted, and then a lid or counterplate, screwed, glued or welded by ultrasonic methods, is provided to prevent the contacts from leaving the housing. Supports in the form of cases that are positioned to prevent this have already been proposed.

The contact can be retracted when inserted into the housing to a position behind a shoulder that would otherwise prevent removal;
On the other hand, the body of the contact is provided with a retractable elastic tongue, with which the contact in the insertion direction is locked, for example by the bottom of the housing.

Instead of being mounted directly on the contact, these tongues can also be supported by an auxiliary part, for example a rolled tubular part, which is itself held securely longitudinally on the contact by two shoulders.

Another method consists simply in embedding the contacts in the carrier during the molding process.

However, these different methods present a number of drawbacks.

Firstly, in the case of a support with a counterplate, the space occupied by the support is increased by the presence of the counterplate, and the positioning of the counterplate involves a special actuation. Moreover, there is a risk that all the contacts will be released at the same time as the counterplate is removed to replace the contacts.

In the case of contacts with retractable tongues, the shape of the contact itself is more complex, so that an additional part is required to hold the tongue. Moreover, removing contacts for contact replacement is not easy and requires tools specially adapted for the purpose.

In the case of contacts that are directly embedded in the insulating material of the carrier, removal for replacement is of course impossible. Moreover, since each contact is held rigidly, it is not possible to individually adapt the contacts to positional variations between the connecting elements. In the end, the technology of molding from above is not easy and requires high investment costs.

The present invention overcomes these drawbacks and provides a contact that can be securely fixed in a particularly simple manner, without the need for additional parts, such as for example counterplates or tongues, and which can be easily removed for replacement. Provide connection equipment.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and inexpensive method for inserting and fixing contacts in a support.

The invention provides, for example, a plurality of contacts, preferably a plurality of contacts, bodies and connecting lugs or connecting outputs, each having a contact element of male or female type, an equal number of which individually receive said contacts.
- consisting of an insulating support or case with lugs, the contacts of these latter being inserted into the housing in the direction of the connecting lugs or outputs, the lugs passing through the bottom of the housing;
a supplementary shoulder provided with means for gripping the contact within the housing of the contact to counter removal of the contact and adapted to abut a supplementary shoulder of the housing receiving the contact to limit insertion of the contact during insertion of the contact body; a lug initially disposed within the extension of the body and folded back on the outside of the housing against a surface of the support that prevents removal of the contact, thereby preventing rotation of the contact within the housing of the contact; To provide a contact connection device, which is preferably provided with a device for

The support or case has a groove on the outside of the housing and on the same side as the connection output, the lateral dimension of which is equal to or very slightly thicker than the thickness of the connection output or lug in the same direction. The bottom of the groove forms the surface of the support which prevents removal of the contact.The body is therefore cylindrical and its dimensions are such that the contact does not rotate or rotate within the housing. Contacts dimensioned for movement can be fixed in a simple manner to prevent rotation.

The gripping shoulder defined by the body is preferably simply formed by a shoulder ensuring a transition between the body and the connecting output, which shoulder is located close to the orifice at the bottom through which the connecting output of the contact passes. to cooperate with the bottom of the housing. However, an abutment or shoulder modification that limits the insertion movement of the body into the housing may be disposed at another location and cooperating with the opposing surface or corresponding shoulder of the support within the housing. You should understand that.

The external pressure-positioned surface of the housing on which the connection output or lug is folded back substantially corresponds to the elastic return during bending due to the angle formed by the connection output in its folded state in the initial direction of the connection output. It is preferable to form a slightly larger value by the value in the direction of the connecting output part before bending the connecting output part. Thus, for example, if an initial angle of 90° between the connection output part and the initial direction is desired, the angle between the gripping surface and the initial direction of the contact point should be greater than 90° by the value transverse to this elastic return part. There is.

Because of this elastic return, the contact is gripped in the removal direction by a portion of the surface that is located virtually at the same level as the end of the connection output.

Once the axis of the end of the connecting lug is bent with the axis of the contact itself at a considerable angle, preferably more than 45°, for example up to 90°.

However, as a modification, the remaining part of the connection output can for example be bent twice to bring it in a direction parallel to the initial direction of the contacts and to the initial direction of the connection output. If the connection output is of considerable length, it can also be additionally bent so that its extreme end lies in the extension of the initial axis.

Of course, all other kinds of bends can be of any arbitrary shape, for example in the shape of a blade contact, and cause the contact to act as an applied elastic contact element, for example by pressing the contact area of a part of a printed circuit card. can. In this case, soldering,
The clamping or winding connection has no points, so that the contact lug itself forms the contact element.

The invention also provides that individual contacts are used which initially have a connecting output or lug that is substantially straight with the axis of the housing, and the contact is introduced into the housing so as to pass the connecting output to the outside of the housing. , the contact is held in the housing with the gripping shoulder of the contact applied to the supplementary gripping shoulder of the housing, and the protruding part of the connecting output or lug is at the level of the groove of said support surface, preferably of this surface. A method is provided for mounting a contact in a device that can be bent to create a permanent angular deformation in the protruding portion.

Other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of some examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a contact having the general shape of a rotating body with a cylindrical body 1α, on each side of which there is a conductive contact element 1b forming a male contact. A connection lug IC, which is a connection output section connected to the body, extends coaxially. The transition between the body lα and the output connecting lug 1c forms an annular gripping shoulder 1d.

Fig. 2 shows a flat main body 2 (!) with a rectangular shape obtained by punching or cutting one piece, a connecting element 2b with a rectangular cross section forming a male contact element, and a gripping shoulder as a double shoulder on the main body. A contact is shown including a connecting lug 2C having a portion 2d.

All the contacts illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 having a known shape include, in addition to the actual contact element, one or more connecting lugs or outputs located at the level of the intermediate part with or without the shape of a thick body. Other different contact geometries can be included in the invention as well, including abutment devices such as shoulders, which limit the distance that the contact is driven into the housing in the insertion direction, i.e. in the direction of the connection output. It is intended to limit the

Reference is now made to FIGS. 3-5.

FIG. 3 shows an insulating support 3 with a cross-section of a housing. The insulating support 3 is formed by molding into a single block. The insulating support comprises a plurality of flat-shaped housings 4α which are open in the lower part 4b and closed in the upper part by a bottom part which has in the central part a bottom orifice 4C which is a passage for the connection lug 2C which is the connection output. The bottom part thus defines two supplementary shoulders 4cL against which the gripping shoulders 2d of the contact abut. A passageway, a bottom orifice 4C, opens at the bottom of the groove 5, which is freely open on one of the inner surfaces 3α of the support. The groove 5 is interrupted at point 5α and the bottom of the groove on the side above the supplementary shoulder 4d has a linear shape parallel to the upper surface 3b of the support and to the supplementary shoulder 4d.

On the other hand, the bottom surface 5b, which is inclined towards the inner surface 3α, is inclined so as to form a very small angle of several degrees with respect to the plane of the supplementary shoulder 4d.

As will be understood, the contacts of FIG.
The connecting output lug 2C therefore passes through the passage shoulder orifice 4C and its final position is achieved when the gripping shoulder 2ct contacts the supplementary shoulder 4Li (FIG. 4).

In this position, with the contact in contact with the bottom of the housing, the contact is held in this position by, for example, a diostomeric element 6, and is applied to the pin contact element 2b by means of a suitable tool (not shown), which serves as the connection output. The connecting lug 2C is folded into the groove 5, as indicated by the arrow in FIG. is further facilitated by the slope of both sides of this groove. When the bending tool is removed, the connection output, the connection lug 2C, pivots slightly in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow under the influence of the remaining elasticity and adopts the position indicated by the dashed line 2/C. However, in this position the connecting lug, which is the connecting output, forms an angle of 90° with its initial direction. In this position, the connecting lug 2C is connected to the groove 5 near the bottom orifice 4C.
It merely contacts the bottom surface 5b. The contact is thus securely fixed against movement within the housing, and the connecting lug, which is the connecting output in position 2'C, is still bent at right angles to the inner surface 3α of the support 3 in a perfectly defined direction. It will be more easily understood that if the housing is cylindrical in shape and receives a contact as shown in FIG. 1, the connecting output bent into the groove 5 will fix the contact and prevent it from rotating. .

Referring to FIG. 5, a device such as that just described passes the connecting lug 2C, which is the connecting output, through an orifice formed in the printed circuit card 7 and solders the contacts at points 8 in a manner known per se. It will be appreciated that in this position an electrical connection is made with the conductive areas carried by the printed circuit card 7. The edges of the printed circuit card 7 are fixed to the support 3 by means not shown in FIG. It extends to

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a contact similar to the contact illustrated in FIG.
After the lug 2c is bent to form a first bend 2e as shown in FIG. 4, it is parallel to the initial axis which is also the initial axis of the connecting element 2b which is the end of the connecting lug 2C which is the connecting output part. The initial axis is bent twice at a point 2f in the direction that brings about the biased direction. The printed circuit card 7 can now be set in a position perpendicular to the inner side 3α of the insulating support 3.

Referring to FIG. 7, the two insulating supports 3 are arranged parallel to each other with their inner surfaces 3α facing each other, leaving a gap between the inner surfaces to maintain the printed circuit card 9. There is. After being bent for the first time to prevent removal of the contacts, the connecting lug 2C has a bent portion 2 with its protrusion bent towards the printed circuit card 9! A number of other bends are accepted to present I towards the ends. In the positions shown in the drawing, the bent portions 2!1 at the ends of the two contacts are applied to the two sides of the printed circuit card 90 at the level of their conductive areas by means of a relatively high elastic pressure, resulting in an electrical current in these positions. Provide continuity. This elastic pressure is dependent in particular on the different curvatures or angles of the bends of the connecting lug 2C as the connecting output. The connecting lug, which is the connecting output, must, of course, be of sufficient length from the beginning to obtain the final desired structure, as shown in the drawings.

In this embodiment, the connection output effectively plays the role of a contact, and the bottle connection element 2b can be used not only as a male contact, but also as a permanent connection element, for example by welding, wrapping, etc. be.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the two insulating supports 3 are fixed in any way independent of the printed circuit card or are held in their parallel position by means of a retaining device not shown. The two insulating supports 3 can form a block molded in a single piece leaving a passage for the printed circuit card 9 in the central part.

Of course, in all of the embodiments shown, instead of using flat contacts as illustrated in FIG. 2, contacts that are cylindrical in shape as shown in FIG. 1 can be used, with only the shape of the housing being modified. It is easy to understand that

Referring to FIG. 8, there is shown a composite support receiving the same type of contacts as shown in FIG. More specifically, the illustrated molded insulating support 1o has at least a support 10α with a row of housings 1α and a support 10b with a row of housings 12α with different heights. Height is support 10α
The height is below. As understood from the drawing, 2
The rows of housings II (Z and 12α are cylindrical in shape, and housing IIα has a length equal to that of housing 12α)
It's longer. For the rest, the groove, the passage for the connection lug as the connection output, and the shape of the surface at the bottom of the groove are similar to that shown in FIG.

A contact such as that illustrated in FIG. 1 is inserted within the housing 12α, while a similar contact having a substantially elongated body is inserted within the housing 12α. Once the connecting lug is inserted into the groove, all contacts are prevented from rotating and are held in position inside the housing.

FIG. 9 illustrates a molding element for molding the support of the device according to the invention. The side and bottom walls of the mold are not shown. On the other hand, it can be seen that in this example, the cylindrical housing is defined by the mold core 13, which has a cylindrical shape and has a positioning notch 3α at its upper end. The cavity of the housing 12α is molded around the mold core 130. The passage 12C is formed by an extension 14α of the upper mold part 14, which part also comprises a groove 5 and a relief +4b forming the bottom surface 5b of the groove. The extension 14α forming the passageway +2c' is positioned exactly within the mold core 23 by the notch 13α and is itself extended by the tip 14C.

Removal from the mold is accomplished by drawing the mold core 13 and upper mold section 14 together from the molding support.

Although the invention has been described in connection with several specific embodiments, the invention is not limited to those embodiments and, therefore, changes in shape or material may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. It is of course obvious that different modifications can be made.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a perspective view showing an individual contact having a cylindrical shape, FIG. 2 a perspective view showing a contact having a flat shape, and FIG. 3 a receiving contact as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view, partially in section, of a device support; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of contacts placed within the support; FIG. 5 is a partially bent perspective view within the support soldered to a printed circuit card; 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the contact with the second connecting bend soldered to the card; FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the contact lug in electrical contact with the track on the printed circuit card; FIG. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a composite connecting device elastically applied in FIG. 9 is a perspective view, partially in section, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view, partially in section, of an apparatus for molding a support similar to that shown in FIG. 8; 1α: Main body 1b: Contact element IC: Connection lug 1d,
: Gripping shoulder 2α: Main body 2c: Connection lug 2d: Gripping shoulder 3; Insulating support 4α; Housing 4d: Supplementary shoulder 5b: Surface 10: Insulating support 11a: Housing 12cL: Housing Applicant François Robert Bonhomme Agent Patent Attorney Masaaki Yonehara Patent Attorney Tadashi Hamamoto Patent Attorney Akira Matsumoto

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. At least one, preferably a plurality of individual contacts having a contact element (1b, 2b), a body (1α, 2α) and a connecting lug or output (IC, 2C); An equal number of 7 housings (4α, 11α, 12
an insulating support or case (3, to) with
It consists of a device for gripping the contacts in the housing of the contacts against removal of the contacts, these latter contacts being inserted into the housing in the direction of the connecting lugs or outputs passing through the bottom of the housing (1α) of said contacts. 2α) has a gripping shoulder (1d, 2d) adapted to abut during insertion against a supplementary shoulder (4d,) of the housing receiving the contact for the purpose of restricting the insertion of the contact, initially extending the body; The connecting lugs (IC, 2C) arranged on the supports (3, 1) prevent the removal of the contacts.
0) A contact connecting device adapted to be bent back toward the outside of the housing relative to the surface (5b). 2. Device according to claim 1, further comprising a device (5) for preventing rotation of the contact within the housing of the contact. 3. The support (3) has a groove (5) as a device on the outside of the housing on the same side as the connection lug as the connection output, and the lateral dimension of the groove is the same as the connection lug (IC, 2t) as the connection output.
'') or very slightly greater, such that the bottom surface (5b) of the groove device (5) forms said surface that prevents removal of the contact. The device according to item 2. 4. The gripping shoulder (ld, 2d) of the contact body simply connects the main body (1α, 2cL) with the connecting lug (IC, 2
C) formed by a shoulder ensuring the transition between C), said gripping shoulder cooperating with a supplementary shoulder (4d) at the bottom of the housing near the bottom orifice (4C) of the housing; Apparatus according to scope 1. 5 A connection lug (IC, 211') whose surface (5b) which is the gripping surface is close to the outlet from the housing and which is a connection output part
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device forms a slight angle corresponding to the elastic return after bending with the final orientation of the device. After the bending (2e) with respect to the gripping surface (5b), the connecting lug has at least one second bending (2f) which further separates the connecting lug (2C) from said surface. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to: 7. The end of the connecting lug (2C) as a connecting output passes through the printed circuit card (7) to which the connecting lug as a connecting output is soldered, and the support (3) is connected to the card (7). 1. A device according to claim 1. 8. Claim 6, in which the output lug has at its end a bent portion (2y) adapted to bear elastically against the conductive region in order to ensure electrical contact. The device described in. a The support (IOct, 1ob) in which the support (9) has at least two rows of housings ('IIα, 12α) with different depths, and a connection lug serving as a connection output portion protrudes through the support (IOct, 1ob).
2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the surfaces are thus arranged at different levels. 10. The individual contacts are initially used with a connecting output or connecting lug that is substantially straight along the axis of the housing, and the housing is used for passing the connecting output or connecting lug out of the housing. A contact is introduced into the housing, the contact is held within the housing with the gripping shoulder of the contact abutting a supplementary gripping shoulder of the housing, and the protruding portion of the connecting lug, which is the connecting output, is at a permanent angle. A device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, adapted to undergo deformation, preferably to be bent back with respect to the plane of the support at the level of the groove in said plane. How to install contacts inside.