JPS6134232B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a multiple contact device, and more particularly to a multiple contact device having a contact member cut out by forming a slot in a metal plate, and a terminal member attached to the contact member, and a method for manufacturing the same. It is.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multi-contact devices are known which have contact members cut out by cutting out slots in a metal plate by a stamping or stamping operation. In this known device, each contact member consists of two substantially identical resilient arms and a web connecting the pointed opposite ends of these arms to each other. After forming the slots in the metal plate, these contact members are curved around an axis of symmetry, giving them a "tuning fork" shape. This tuning fork shape forms a slit-like opening between the tips of the arms, into which a mating plug can be inserted. Attach the terminal member provided with the bracket to the above web. The elastic contact thus manufactured is housed in an insulating housing, and the bracket of the terminal member is applied to the recess of the housing to position the contact with respect to the housing.

However, because this known device requires a large number of production steps for the production of individual contacts, the above-mentioned production steps are time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, the waste produced by forming the slots in the metal plate consumes a large amount of material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an improved multi-contact device and method for manufacturing the same, which can quickly and inexpensively produce a multi-contact device.

The advantage of the method of the present invention is that a number of connected contact members are bent simultaneously around a common bending axis, the terminal members are applied to the contact members at the same time, and the welding is performed in a single step. contacts can be inserted into the insulating housing at the same time. By manufacturing multiple contacts simultaneously, the time required for bending operations, mounting the terminal member, and inserting it into the insulating housing can be reduced. Templates and gauges can also be used in the method of the invention to simplify and automate the process. The basic idea of the invention is that after forming the slot in the metal plate, instead of folding the contact members separately around the axis, the entire contact member is folded along a line approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the contact member. fold at the same time. These operations require very little material.

In producing blade-shaped contacts and contact devices including such contacts, individual blade-shaped contacts are manufactured that are connected via a grooved strip, and after the contacts have been inserted into an insulating housing, the strip is broken. This is known. However, since this known technique does not involve bending the contact member and attaching the terminal member, problems arising from these operations do not occur. Therefore, a process suitable for manufacturing a contact device with a contact in the form of a blade can be adopted for manufacturing a multi-contact assembly with a folded contact member and a terminal member attached thereto, as the subject of the present invention. I can't.

Furthermore, processes for bending contacts of metal plates while the contact members remain connected are known. However, in this case it does not include an insulating housing.
This known process involves first forming arms on both sides of a metal sheet in a grooving operation, and then folding the sheet around a centerline to form substantially identical pairs of arms in an array. Thereafter, the plastic sheet is molded into the arm sections and the individual contacts are electrically isolated from each other by a cutting operation. In this process, the terminal members are formed by pins of sheet metal that are bent or folded so that they remain in place after the cutting operation described above. It has been found that this type of terminal member cannot support large loads and is not suitable for wire wrapping devices. Furthermore, molding plastic sheets is a complex operation.

A particular advantage of the method of the invention is that the contact members are folded overlappingly around a first folding axis (180° fold) and the contact members are folded at an angle of about 90° about a second folding axis. , further bend the contact member at an angle of about 90° around the third bending axis to make the contact member H-shaped, and contact the shoulder portion formed at an angle of about 90° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the contact member. This arises from the fact that the terminal member is attached to the contact member so as to In this way, the terminal member is relatively strong and remains connected to the contact member even when subjected to large mechanical loading forces.

After the contact member is bent around the first bending axis, at least one vertical piece previously provided integrally with the contact member is bent around the folded and overlapped double layer portion of the contact member. Good contact properties are thus obtained. That is, the double layer portion of the contact member is prevented from separating. Therefore, even if a force is applied to spread and separate the arms, the arms are not pressed against the inner wall of the insulating housing, and this force is absorbed by the holding force of the contacts themselves.

By inserting the interconnected contacts into the bottom of the insulating housing and closing the bottom with the lid of the insulating housing, an excellent support for the contacts inside the housing is obtained. The lid snaps into place on the bottom and has a chamber for housing the contact member. During this operation, the step-shaped locking shoulder 28 on the inner wall of the chamber seats against the abutment surface 13 on the contact member.

The invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

By grooving the metal plate, several contact elements S and a grooved strip 15 connecting these contact elements by means of a web are formed in the metal plate. A part 1 of the metal plate is shown in FIG. The contact members S connected by the web in this way are later separated and separated, but in order to facilitate this separation, during the above-mentioned groove cutting operation, the future between the contact member S and the grooved strip 15 is removed. Make a cut in the web to be broken. The spacing between the unseparated contact members in FIG. 1 is 2.54 mm (0.1 inch), and the thickness of the metal plate forming the contact member S is 0.25 mm.
In FIG. 1, all the contact members S are sequentially bent in the same way around the bending axes indicated by and to form an H-shape as shown in FIG. 3. That is, first, the contact member is folded in half along the first folding axis so that the portions on both sides of the first folding axis completely overlap to form a double layer portion. Next, bend the contact member at an angle of about 90° in the opposite direction along the second bending axis,
Further, the contact member is bent at an angle of about 90° in the opposite direction along the third bending axis. As a result, an H-shaped contact member 2 is obtained as shown in FIG.

2 and 3 show a state in which the terminal member 3 is attached to the H-shaped contact member 2 by welding. The double layer portion 9, which is folded in two so as to overlap around the first bending axis, consists of two overlapping contact portions 9a and 9b. The contact portion 9b has a recess 10, which, as can be seen in FIG. 1, was formed during the initial grooving operation of the strip. Also, at the same time as this groove cutting operation, a hanging piece 11 is formed integrally with the contact portion 9a. This hanging piece 11 is bent into the recess 10 of the contact member of FIGS. 2 and 3 to hold the contact portion 9b. As a result of bending the contact member along the bending axis, a shoulder 8 is created. Contact member 2 viewed from the plane of shoulder portion 8
The axis and position of is determined so that it has a substantially rectangular cross section. Two arms 4a, 4b from shoulder part 8
These arms 4a, 4b extend as well as the contact tips 5a, 5b. These contact points form a slit-like opening 7. As shown in FIG.
are provided on the contact portions 4a and 4b, respectively. By making such a cut, the abutting surface 1 is formed as shown in FIG.
3. Since the cuts 12 are on opposite sides of the axis of the unfolded contact member, as shown in FIG. 1, they occupy oblique positions with respect to each other after the contact member is folded. The terminal member 3 welded to the double layer portion 9 of the contact member abuts the shoulder portion 8 at one end thereof.
With the help of a welding pin 17, the terminal member 3 is spot-welded to the two-folded part of the contact member. Terminal support 3 shall be made of a material that can withstand mechanical loads. In the example
It was made of 0.6mm x 0.6mm wire. The terminal member 3 is provided with chamfered surfaces 3a, 3b so that the terminal member 3 can be easily inserted into the hole even if the terminal member 3 is not accurately aligned with the hole into which the terminal member is inserted. Approximately 1/3 of the length of the terminal member 3 is brought into contact with the double layer portion 9 of the contact member. The contact portions 9a and 9b of the double layer portion are held between the hanging pieces 11. The position of the third bending axis, the thickness of the terminal member 3, and the thickness of the metal plate used for the contact member are appropriately adjusted so that the center line MP of the terminal member 3 matches the center line MS of the slit opening 7. choose,
Arms 4a and 4b are arranged symmetrically around center line MS and parallel to center line MS. That is, half the width of the terminal member 3 measured in the plane of the paper in FIG.
and the thickness of the contact member should be approximately equal to half of the axis of the contact member measured in the same plane.

In the next operation, the terminal members 3, each welded to a plurality of contact members 2 still connected to the grooved strip 15, are inserted into the openings 25 in one member, the bottom 21, of the insulating housing 20.
That is, the terminal member 3 is inserted through a series of openings 25 in the bottom portion 21.
stand out. The end of the double layer portion of the contact member 2 is seated on the bottom 21.

Next, after the grooved strip 15 is broken along the pre-prepared cuts to separate the individual contact members and the contact members are separated, the lid which has the chamber 24 inside and is the other member of the insulating housing 20 is removed. 22 to bottom 2
1, and snap the pawl 23 of the lid 22 onto the mating pawl of the bottom 21. Since the cross section of the chamber 24 is slightly wider than the maximum horizontal cross section of the contact member 2,
Even when this multi-contact device is in the assembled state, the arms 4a, 4b do not contact the inner wall of the chamber 24 of the insulating housing 20. Stepped protrusions 26 are provided on two opposing measuring sections of the inner wall of this chamber 24. This protrusion 26
is the locking shoulder 2 perpendicular to the direction in which the contact member is inserted.
It has 8. Furthermore, the end of the locking shoulder 28 of the protrusion 26 is cut into a triangular shape to provide a slope 29 to reduce the chance that the protrusion 26 rubs against the notch 12 of the contact member when the lid 22 is placed over the contact member. The position of the locking shoulder 28 is such that when the lid 22 is installed, the locking shoulder 28 is firmly pressed into the notch 12 of the contact member. The thickness of the protrusion 26 is made slightly smaller than the width of the notch 12, so that the lid 22 can be easily placed over the contact member. Since the protrusion 26 and the notch 12 are provided diagonally opposite each other, the contact member and the terminal member can be inserted into the bottom portion 21 of the insulating housing 20 even when rotated through 180°. This allows the multiple contact device to be easily and reliably assembled.

A contact element 2 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) bent in an H-shape is particularly advantageous. Contact members bent in this way can be used not only in multi-contact arrangements, but also in individual connectors or circular connectors. These contact members can be produced without using the above-mentioned manufacturing method.

The manufacturing method described herein is capable of manufacturing all multi-contact devices in which terminal members are attached to the contacts by welding. For this purpose, several contact elements can be formed simultaneously by folding around a common folding axis, all terminal elements can be attached to the contact elements in a single operation, and they cannot be separated. At the same time, the contact members, which are not yet connected, are installed in the insulating housing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a part of a metal plate with contact members not yet bent and connected to each other via a grooved strip for use in a contact device according to the invention; FIG. 3 is a side view of the contact shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a multiple contact device having contacts, and FIG. A front view of the bent contact member, Figure 6 is 6-6 in Figure 5.
It is a sectional view on a line. 2...Contact member, 3...Terminal member, 3a, 3b
... Chamfered surface, 4a, 4b ... Arm, 5a, 5
b...Contact tip, 7...Slit-shaped opening, 8...
...Shoulder part, 9...Double layer part, 9a, 9b...Contact part, 10...Recess, 11...Vertical piece, 12...Notch, 13...Abutment surface, 15...Grooved strip, 17... Welding pin, 20... Insulating housing, 21... Bottom, 22... Lid, 23... Pawl, 24... Chamber, 25... Opening, 26... Projection,
28...Rock shoulder, 29...Slope.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A multi-contact device having an insulating housing and a plurality of contacts attached to the insulating housing, which has two elastic arms at the tip thereof, and a plurality of elastic arms of the two elastic arms. One elastic arm has a bifold double-layer section extending substantially straight from the end thereof and extending through a laterally extending shoulder from the other elastic arm end. an H-shaped contact member having an H-shaped contact member, and a separate terminal member, the terminal member being attached to the double layer portion of the contact member so that one end of the terminal member engages with the shoulder portion of the contact member. is attached, and the sum of half the width of the terminal member and the thickness of the double layer portion measured in a plane in which the contact member is viewed in an H-shape is approximately equal to half the width of the contact member in the plane. A multiple contact device characterized in that the center of the terminal member and the center of the contact member are aligned. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least one vertical piece is provided integrally with one of the layers of the double layer section, and the vertical piece is wound on the other layer of the double layer section. . 3. The housing is constituted by a lid having individual chambers for accommodating the contact members and a bottom portion, and a stepped protrusion having a slope and a locking shoulder is provided on the inner wall of the chamber, and the locking shoulder is provided with a stepped protrusion having a slope and a locking shoulder. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the resilient arm of the contact member is provided with a notch having an interlocking abutment surface. 4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the cross section of the chamber is larger than the cross section of the contact member so that the arm does not contact the wall of the chamber. 5. Forming grooves in a metal plate to form a plurality of contact members connected by a web, and simultaneously folding all of the contact members in half along the first folding axis to form a double layer part. and then folding one layer of the bilayer section at an angle of approximately 90° from the bilayer section along a second folding axis to form a shoulder perpendicular to the bilayer section; Next, the one layer is bent toward the other layer at an angle of approximately 90° along a third bending axis remote from the double layer portion to form the contact member into an H-shape, and A respective terminal member is attached to the double layer portion with one end engaging the shoulder of each contact member to form a respective contact, and the terminal members of the contacts, which remain connected, are attached to the bottom of the insulating housing. A method for manufacturing a multi-contact device from a metal plate, characterized in that the web is inserted into a series of holes in a metal plate and then the web is separated from the contacts. 6. After the folding step, at least one integral vertical piece provided in advance on the one layer is folded around the other layer to hold the double layer portion from separating. The method described in Section 5. 7 After the terminal member is inserted, a lid having a chamber for accommodating the contact member is attached to the bottom of the insulating housing, and a locking shoulder of a stepped protrusion on the inner wall of the chamber is aligned with the notch of the contact member. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the contact member is prevented from being removed by engaging the mating surface.