Cam action electrical edge connector

An electrical connector is disclosed. The connector is made up of first and second housings, one of which is male and the other female. The first housing contains one conductor or two or more opposed conductors. The conductor is made of an elastically deformable and resilient conducting substance. A second housing contains a substrate which carries a conductor in the form of an edge contact pad. The second housing also contains a camming surface or surfaces which interact with the conductor in the first housing. The first and second housings are brought together so that the conductor in the first housing lies opposite the contact pad in the second housing. The housings are then mated. On full mating, the conductor in the first housing is brought into contact with the contact pad in the second housing by the camming surface translates the lateral relative motion of the first and second housings into substantially transverse motion of the conductor in the first housing. The two housings, are held together by a detent so that they will not come apart.

BACKGROUND 
This invention lies in the field of connectors for releasably connecting 
electrical conductors. More specifically it relates to a connector which 
permits the releasable connection of fine electrical conductors without 
significantly degrading the surfaces of such conductors by repeated 
frictional contact between the surfaces of the conductors. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is an electrical connector preferably for microelectronic 
applications which permits electrical conductors to be interconnected 
without one conductor excessively wiping against another. Thus damage of 
the conductors is minimized when contact between the conductors is made or 
broken. Excessive wiping is undesirable because it may cause material to 
be removed from the conductors and their surfaces to be degraded, reducing 
the service life of the conductors. This is particularly true when very 
free conductors are used, for example in microelectronic applications. 
The present invention comprises a connector having two parts which can be 
interconnected. Each part carries a set of conductors or as few as one 
conductor. The conductors of at least one part are resilient. When the two 
parts are brought together, the conductors of both parts are kept separate 
from each other until just before electrical contact is to be made. When 
contact is to be made the conductors which are to be interconnected are 
automatically brought together by a camming action as a result of the two 
parts being brought together. 
The invention is an electrical connector made up of a first housing and a 
second housing. The first housing has a first axis and the second housing 
has a second axis. The housings are adapted to mate with each other by 
alignment of the second axis with the first axis and movement of the first 
and second housings towards each other along the first axis. A first 
elastically deformable conductor is mounted in the first housing offset 
from the first axis such that the first conductor is capable of deflection 
in a direction substantially transverse to the first axis. A second 
conductor mounted in the second housing. A camming means is mounted on the 
second housing for interacting with the first conductor on mating of the 
first and second housings. The camming means is designed to deflect the 
first conductor in the direction substantially transverse to the axis, 
thereby forcing the first conductor into electrical contact with the 
second conductor once the first housing and the second housing are fully 
mated. 
To this end the invention comprises a first housing containing one 
conductor or two or more opposed conductors. For the sake of clarity, the 
invention will be described by reference to a housing containing one 
conductor. The conductor is made of an elastically deformable and 
resilient conducting substance. A second housing contains a substrate 
which carries a conductor in the form of an edge contact pad. The second 
housing also contains a camming surface or surfaces which interact with 
the conductor in the first housing. The first and second housings are 
brought together so that the conductor in the first housing lies opposite 
the contact pad in the second housing. The housings are then mated. On 
full mating, the conductor in the first housing is brought into contact 
with the contact pad in the second housing by the camming surface 
translates the lateral relative motion of the first and second housings 
into substantially transverse motion of the conductor in the first 
housing. The two housings, are held together by a detent so that they will 
not come apart.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
The preferred embodiment described is a connector for joining four 
conductors (two in each housing). The invention includes embodiments for 
joining as few as two conductors (one in each housing) or several 
conductors (many in each housing) which will be readily made by persons of 
ordinary skill in the art by reference to this description. 
A preferred embodiment of the invention, connector 10, is shown in its 
unmated state in FIG. 1. First housing 12 holds conductors 14 and 16 which 
are substantially parallel copper plates preferably having a thickness of 
0.125 mm and width of 0.9 mm; however, the contact width can be determined 
by the number of contacts within the catheter. Conductors 14 and 16 each 
have ends 18 and 20 (see FIG. 2) which are bent inward to facilitate 
resilient contact with contact pads 24 and 26. First (female) housing 12 
has a cavity 28 with which protrusion 30 of second (male) housing 32 can 
mate. Conductors 14 and 16 are fixed in a cantilevered mariner in first 
housing 12 so that they protrude into cavity 28 and are capable of 
deflection in a direction substantially transverse to axis A-A', the axis 
of first housing 12. Cavity 28 overlaps conductors 14 and 16 so that they 
are protected from inadvertent contact with outside objects. Conductors 14 
and 16 are equally spaced on each side of axis A-A'. 
Cavity 28 is also provided with detent 34 which meshes with bump 36 on 
protrusion 30 of second housing 32. The open end of first housing 12 is 
internally beveled for ease of insertion of protrusion 30. 
Second housing 32 has a second axis, shown for clarity as identical to axis 
A-A' due to the alignment of first housing 12 and second housing 32. 
Second housing 32 houses substrate 40, a dielectric held rigidly in place 
by retainer 42. Substrate 40 carries conductor pads 24 and 26. Second 
housing 32 also has a cavity 44 in which substrate 40 resides so that 
substrate 40 is protected. Within cavity 44, on the inside of walls 46 are 
camming surfaces 48. The purpose of camming surfaces 48 is to bring about 
contact between conductors 14, 16 and contact pads 24, 26 as will be 
described. 
The process of interconnecting first housing 12 with second housing 32 can 
be seen in FIGS. 3 through five. First and second housings 12 and 32 are 
aligned along axis A-A' so that substrate 40 is generally collinear with 
axis A-A' as shown in FIGS. 3 through 5. In FIG. 4, protrusion 30 has been 
inserted into cavity 28, but protrusion 30 is not fully within cavity 28. 
Ends 18a and 20a of conductors 14 and 16 have made contact with front 
faces 48a of camming surfaces 48. Contact points 18b and 20b have not yet 
made contact with contact pads 24 and 26. Bump 36 is not yet in detent 34. 
First and second housings 12, 32 are then brought together by lateral 
movement of the housings in the direction shown by arrows 50. On mating of 
housings 12 and 32, camming surfaces 48 interact with conductors 18 and 
20. On further mating of housings 12 and 32, camming surfaces 48 force 
conductors 12 and 20 into electrical contact with contact pads 24 and 26. 
FIG. 5 shows first housing 12 and second housing 32 fully mated with 
electrical contact made between conductors 14, 16 and contact pads 24, 26. 
As can be seen in FIG. 5, chroming surfaces 48 have pushed ends 18a and 
20a in towards substrate 40 so that contact points 18b and 20b have 
contacted contact pads 24 and 26. Thus, the lateral motion of the housings 
12, 32 is translated into transverse motion of conductors 14, 16 so that 
conductors 14, 16 are transversely deflected and make contact with contact 
pads 24, 26. Bump 36 and detent 34 also mate so that first housing 12 and 
second housing 32 are firmly held together and the resilience of 
conductors 14, 16 will not force first housing 12 and second housing 32 
apart. 
Housings 12 and 32 can be separated and contact between conductors 14, 16 
and contact pads 24, 26 broken by simply pulling first housing 12 and 
second housing 32 apart against the force of bump 36 and detent 34. 
While this invention is satisfied by embodiments in many different forms, a 
preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and is 
described in detail, with the understanding that the present disclosure is 
to be considered as exemplary of the principles of the invention and is 
not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The 
scope of the invention will be measured by the appended claims and their 
equivalents.