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

Claim 7:
8. 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 feeding device including a holding device having a holding wire clamp and an indexing device having an indexing wire clamp, the feeding device including an indexer operably coupled to the indexing device, the indexer moving the indexing device relative to the holding device from a retracted position to an advanced position, the indexing device moving the wires as the indexing device is moved from the retracted position to the advanced position, the indexing device moving relative to the wires as the indexing device is returned from the advanced position to the retracted position;
a contact forming unit receiving the wires from the wire feed unit, the contact forming unit having a forming die for forming ends of the contacts from the wires and 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.