Patent ID: 11862920
Assignee: TE CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS GMBH
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 22:
23. An electrical connector assembling machine for assembling an electrical connector including a connector housing manufactured from a connector strip that is a continuous extruded dielectric material and contacts manufactured from continuous wires, the electrical connector assembling machine comprising:
a connector strip feed unit including a connector strip feed track receiving the connector strip, the connector strip feed unit including a connector strip feeding device configured to index the connector strip through the connector strip feed track in successive feed strokes; and
a contact loading assembly adjacent the connector strip feed track to load contacts in the connector strip, the contact loading assembly comprising:
a wire distribution unit including reel cradles for holding reels of the wires;
a wire feed unit including feed tracks receiving the wires from the reels at the wire distribution unit, the wire feed unit including a feeding device configured to simultaneously index the wires through the corresponding feed tracks in successive feed strokes, the wire feed unit including a wire guide assembly guiding the wires through the wire feed unit, the wire guide assembly including a rear guide member and a front guide member adjacent the rear guide member, the rear and front guide members being overlapping to form wire channels receiving the corresponding wires, at least one of the rear guide member and the front guide member being movable relative to the wires as the feeding device indexes the wires through the wire feed unit;
a contact forming unit receiving the wires from the wire feed unit, the contact forming unit having a forming die pressed into the wires to form tapered ends of the contacts from the wires, the contact forming unit having a wire cutter for separating the contacts from the wires; and
a contact loading device loading the contacts made from the wires into the connector strip as the connector strip is advanced through the electrical connector assembling machine.