US3790924A - Relay-plug-in contact spring - Google Patents

Relay-plug-in contact spring Download PDF

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Publication number
US3790924A
US3790924A US00250958A US3790924DA US3790924A US 3790924 A US3790924 A US 3790924A US 00250958 A US00250958 A US 00250958A US 3790924D A US3790924D A US 3790924DA US 3790924 A US3790924 A US 3790924A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
connector portion
contact spring
plug
longitudinal axis
contact
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US00250958A
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English (en)
Inventor
H Sauer
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Panasonic Electric Works Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Matsushita Electric Works Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from DE19712125169 external-priority patent/DE2125169C/de
Application filed by Matsushita Electric Works Ltd filed Critical Matsushita Electric Works Ltd
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3790924A publication Critical patent/US3790924A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R33/00—Coupling devices specially adapted for supporting apparatus and having one part acting as a holder providing support and electrical connection via a counterpart which is structurally associated with the apparatus, e.g. lamp holders; Separate parts thereof
    • H01R33/74—Devices having four or more poles, e.g. holders for compact fluorescent lamps
    • H01R33/76—Holders with sockets, clips, or analogous contacts adapted for axially-sliding engagement with parallely-arranged pins, blades, or analogous contacts on counterpart, e.g. electronic tube socket
    • H01R33/7607—Holders with sockets, clips, or analogous contacts adapted for axially-sliding engagement with parallely-arranged pins, blades, or analogous contacts on counterpart, e.g. electronic tube socket the parallel terminal pins having a circular disposition
    • H01R33/7614—Holders with sockets, clips, or analogous contacts adapted for axially-sliding engagement with parallely-arranged pins, blades, or analogous contacts on counterpart, e.g. electronic tube socket the parallel terminal pins having a circular disposition the terminals being connected to individual wires
    • H01R33/7628—Holders with sockets, clips, or analogous contacts adapted for axially-sliding engagement with parallely-arranged pins, blades, or analogous contacts on counterpart, e.g. electronic tube socket the parallel terminal pins having a circular disposition the terminals being connected to individual wires the wires being connected using solder
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R4/00—Electrically-conductive connections between two or more conductive members in direct contact, i.e. touching one another; Means for effecting or maintaining such contact; Electrically-conductive connections having two or more spaced connecting locations for conductors and using contact members penetrating insulation
    • H01R4/02—Soldered or welded connections
    • H01R4/027—Soldered or welded connections comprising means for positioning or holding the parts to be soldered or welded

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A spring plate is cut and bent along a center axis to form at one end resilient portions for receiving a contact pin and at the other end a generally troughshaped tapering connector portion adapted to be inserted into a hole of a conductor plate and provided with a converging opening for receiving a connecting wire.
  • This invention relates to a relay plug-in contact spring of the type comprising resilient portions for receiving a Contact pin and a connector portion which may receive a connecting wire or may be inserted into a hole in a conductor plate and soldered to conductor bars disposed on the conductor plate.
  • Relay plug-in contact springs adapted to be inserted into conductor plates as well as for conventional wiring and soldering are obtained by providing the contact springs as used with conductor plates additionally with a soldering lug or a notch for receiving the connecting wire.
  • the hole provided in a conductor plate for a contact spring usually has a maximum diameter of about 0.05 inches there is the disadvantage that a soldering lug in the contact spring the width of which is limited by the hole cannot be made large enough to ensure free-of-trouble wiring. If a notch is provided, wiring becomes complicated because the end of the connecting wire must be bent to form a hook in order safely to engage the notch.
  • Particularly with contact support members having contact springs arranged in several rows thereare difficulties in the wiring of those contact springs which are closer to the support member.
  • the connector portion of the plug-in contact spring has .outer edges extending at an acute'angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the plug-in contact spring such that the connector portion converges towards its free end, the connector portion having an opening overlying the longitudinal axis for receiving a connecting wire, being bent along the longitudinal axis to form a semicircular, oval or angular profile and terminating in at least one pointed tongue.
  • a contact spring inserted into such hole is automatically retained by the elastic force of the connector portion. This is for instance advantageous in a case where a contact support member fitted with such contact springs is to be connected to conductor bars disposed on a conductor plate by dipsoldering because the contact support member is safely retained on the conductor plate without any additional mechanical fixture, merely by the contact springs.
  • the inserting of the contact spring into a hole of the conductor plate is furthermore simplified by the tapering free end of the connector portion.
  • the diameter of the free end of the connector portion is smaller than that of the hole while the diameter of the connector portion at the end where the connector portion is connected to the resilient portions exceeds the diameter of the hole.
  • the invention further provides a plug-in contact spring having a connector portion which, as a result of the semicircular, oval or angular bend, has a trough shaped profile providing increased stiffness.
  • a contact support member fitted with plug-in contact springs according to the invention is used with conductor plates the increased stiffness yields the advantage that it is nearly impossible for the contact springs to bend due to excessive tolerances of the holes in the conductor plate or for other reasons.
  • the high stiffness of the connector portions of the contact springs ensure that stresses which may be exerted by the connecting wires cannot easily deform the connector portions, thereby avoiding for instance short circuits with adjacent contact springs. I
  • one pointed tongue is provided on each side of the longitudinal axis at the free end of the tapering connector portion.
  • each pointed tongue is bent off such that the trough-shaped profile of the connector portion is substantially closed at the free end of the connector portion thereby further simplifying the inserting of a plug-in contact spring into a hole of a conductor plate.
  • the opening in the connector portion is shaped such that the periphery of the opening in the area of the connector portion extends parallel to these edges.
  • a shoulder is provided on each side of the longitudinal springs are forced into the recesses until the shoulders engage abutments provided in the support member and are thus locked by the elastic force of their connector portions.
  • Each plug-in contact spring is thus fixed in a predetermined position without requiring additional means.
  • FIG. 2 is a sideview of the plug-in contact spring of FIG. 1 with bends provided in the area of the resilient portion and the connector portions;
  • FIG. 3 is a sideview of a finished bent plug-in contact spring according to the invention.
  • FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section along the lines IV IV of FIG. 3;
  • FIG. 5 is a cross-section along the lines V V of FIG. 3;
  • FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sections through a connector portion of a plug-in contact spring bent to oval and, respectively, semicircular form.
  • a plug-in contact spring according to the invention the outline of which is shown in FIG. 1 is punched from spring sheet metal and consists of a connector portion 1 and two contact portions 2, 3.
  • a T-shaped slot 9 divides the plug-in contact spring into two halves which are symmetrical about a longitudinal axis 16 of the spring and are each subdivided by notches 10, 11 into two resilient portions 2a, 2b and 3a, 3b.
  • These resilient portions 20, 2b and 3a, 3b form a pair of double contacts for a contact pin such as of a relay.
  • the outer edges 17, 18 of the connector portion I extend at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis 16 so that the connector portion 1 converges towards its free end.
  • the connector portion 1 is further provided with an opening 4 overlying the longitudinal axis 16, the edge 19 of the opening 4 in the area of the edges 17, 18 extending parallel to these edges 17, 18; this provides particularly useful spring characteristics with respect to a connecting wire 14 to be received in the opening 4 as well as with respect to a hole 20 provided in a conductor plate 13 into which the connector portion 1 is inserted.
  • the free end of the connector portion 1 is further provided with a pointed tongue 5, 6 on both sides of the longitudinal axis 16.
  • the connector portion 1 is also provided at itsend adjacent the resilient portions 2a, 2b and 3a, 3b on each side of the longitudinal axis 16 with a shoulder 7, 8 extending perpendicularly of the longitudinal axis 16 for retaining the plug-in contact spring in a contact support member 21.
  • a shoulder 7, 8 extending perpendicularly of the longitudinal axis 16 for retaining the plug-in contact spring in a contact support member 21.
  • FIG. 2 represents a longitudinal section of the plug-in contact spring shown in FIG. 1.
  • the contact spring as shown in FIG. 2 has been shaped in a first bending step.
  • the pointed tongues 5, 6 have been bent in a zone B and the resilient portions 2a, 2b, 3a and 3b in zones C.
  • FIG. 2 shows only the tongue 5 and the resilient portion 2a.
  • the remaining Figures display the plug-in contact spring after finishing in a second bending step.
  • an angular profile is formed in a zone D of the connector portion 1 and the contact portions 2, 3 are bent in zones E so as to face each other.
  • a spatially pointed element is created by the bent trough-shaped profile of the connector portion 1 in connection with the tongues 5, 6 which have been bent before. Such an element is easily inserted into the hole 20 of the conductor plate 13.
  • a connecting wire 14 into the opening 4 is simplified by the form of the connector portion 1 which converges toward its free end and by the bend in the zone D.
  • the connecting wire 14 is resiliently retained in the opening 4 by an elastic force which is the greater the further the wire is moved downwardly in the converging opening 4.
  • the connecting wire 14 may thus firmly be pinched in the opening 4 prior to soldering so as to provide a good electrical contact between the connector portion 1 and the connecting wire 14. Simultaneously, provision is made against malfunctions which may be caused by cold-iron soldered joints.
  • connection wire 14 soldering of the connection wire 14 is particularly easy because the trough-shaped profile of the connector portion 1 is substantially closed off by the bent tongues 5,6 so as to form a pocket for retaining the solder.
  • FIGS. 3 and 4 also show the double contact formed by the resilient portions 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b for receiving a contact pin.
  • the connector portion 1 is formed with a trough-shaped profile by bending the portion 1 along the longitudinal axis 16. As far as stability to loads exerted in any direction is concerned, it does not matter whether the profile is rectangular (FIG. 5), oval (FIG. 6) or semicircular (FIG. 7).
  • a relay plug-in contact spring comprising at least two pairs of resilient portions for receiving a contact pin and a connector portion for receiving a connecting wire or for being inserted into a hole of a conductor plate and soldered to conducting bars disposed on such conductor plate, said contact spring having the outer edges of said connector portion extending at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of said plug-in contact spring so as to converge towards the free end of said connector portion, an opening in the lower end of said connector portion overlying said longitudinal axis for receiving said connecting wire, said connector portion being bent along said longitudinal axis 1, wherein said opening is shaped such that the edges of said opening extend parallel to the edges of said connector portion.
  • a relay plug-in contact spring according to claim 1 wherein one shoulder is provided on each side of said longitudinal axis at the end of said connector portion adjacent said resilient portions, said shoulders extending perpendicularly of said longitudinal axis for retaining the plug-in contact spring in a contact support member.

Landscapes

  • Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
  • Multi-Conductor Connections (AREA)
  • Connections Effected By Soldering, Adhesion, Or Permanent Deformation (AREA)
US00250958A 1971-05-21 1972-05-08 Relay-plug-in contact spring Expired - Lifetime US3790924A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE19712125169 DE2125169C (de) 1971-05-21 Relais-Steckkontaktfeder

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3790924A true US3790924A (en) 1974-02-05

Family

ID=5808489

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US00250958A Expired - Lifetime US3790924A (en) 1971-05-21 1972-05-08 Relay-plug-in contact spring

Country Status (3)

Country Link
US (1) US3790924A (de)
JP (1) JPS5213306B1 (de)
DE (1) DE2125169B1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5916000A (en) * 1997-03-27 1999-06-29 The Whitaker Corporation Press fit electrical contact
US6193561B1 (en) * 1998-05-06 2001-02-27 Harting Kgaa Electrical plug connector
US8556666B2 (en) * 2011-10-14 2013-10-15 Delphi Technologies, Inc. Tuning fork electrical contact with prongs having non-rectangular shape

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3147059A (en) * 1960-05-19 1964-09-01 United Internat Dynamics Corp Electrical connection
US3248687A (en) * 1963-09-27 1966-04-26 Westinghouse Electric Corp Universal terminal and component mounting device
DE1465686A1 (de) * 1964-10-17 1969-04-17 Harting Elektro W Kontaktbuchse fuer elektrische Steckverbindungen

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3147059A (en) * 1960-05-19 1964-09-01 United Internat Dynamics Corp Electrical connection
US3248687A (en) * 1963-09-27 1966-04-26 Westinghouse Electric Corp Universal terminal and component mounting device
DE1465686A1 (de) * 1964-10-17 1969-04-17 Harting Elektro W Kontaktbuchse fuer elektrische Steckverbindungen

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
IBM Bulletin, Schick, Component Mounting and Wire Wrapping Contact, 10, 1962, Vol. 5, No. 5, p. 10. *

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5916000A (en) * 1997-03-27 1999-06-29 The Whitaker Corporation Press fit electrical contact
US6193561B1 (en) * 1998-05-06 2001-02-27 Harting Kgaa Electrical plug connector
US8556666B2 (en) * 2011-10-14 2013-10-15 Delphi Technologies, Inc. Tuning fork electrical contact with prongs having non-rectangular shape

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE2125169B1 (de) 1972-08-24
JPS5213306B1 (de) 1977-04-13

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