Electrical connector

An electrical connector used for interconnecting one or more conductors on the same or different printed circuit boards comprising two mold members having terminal bodies with each end inserted into the mold members until they protrude from the bottom and with a bent portion between the mold members maintaining a distance greater than the distance required to insert the mold members and terminal bodies into through holes of a printed circuit board. The connector is used in conjunction with a pair of chuck members and a stop member to place the connector mold members in alignment so that the protruding terminal portions can be accurately inserted into through holes of a printed circuit board with the use of automatic robot means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more 
particularly to a new and improved electrical connector used for 
interconnecting conductors on printed circuit boards. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
As is well knonw, various kinds of electrical connectors are developed for 
electrically interconnecting one conductor to another on printed circuit 
boards. 
One such electrical connector comprises a plurality of terminal bodies each 
consisting of an elongate plate member. The terminal bodies are disposed 
parallel to each other at a predetermined pitch with both of their end 
portions inserted through and supported on right and left mold members. 
Both end portions of the terminal bodies may protrude from bottom surfaces 
of the mold members and the protruded end portions of the terminal bodies 
are configured as terminal portions which are adapted for insertion into 
the through-holes of one or more printed circuit boards. One row of the 
terminal portions supported on and reinforced by one of the mold members 
is inserted into one row of the through-holes of the printed circuit board 
and is soldered thereto. Then, in the similar manner, another row of the 
terminal portions, also reinforced by the other mold member, is inserted 
into another row of the through-holes of the printed circuit board and is 
soldered thereto. In this way, conductors on the printed circuit boards 
are electrically connected together by use of the electrical connector. 
In such type of prior electrical connectors, the terminal bodies, and more 
specifically, portions of the terminal bodies which extend between a pair 
of right and left mold members are constructed to be flexible in nature 
and usually have linear configurations at the time before the terminal 
portions are inserted into the through-holes of the printed circuit 
boards. During insertion, a row of terminal portions is inserted into a 
row of through-holes of one printed circuit board and soldered thereto. 
Thereafter, another row of terminal portions is inserted into a row of 
through-holes of the other printed circuit board and soldered thereto. At 
this time, the terminal bodies are flexibly bent according to the relative 
positions on the printed circuit boards, thereby capable of making 
electrical connection between conductors on the printed circuit boards 
irrespective to said relative position of the circuit boards. 
Although the electrical connectors according to the prior art are useful 
for electrically connecting the conductors on the printed circuit boards, 
there may still remain the need for improving them in view of the tedious 
operation of individually inserting the one and other rows of terminal 
portions into one and other rows of through-holes in the printed circuit 
boards. In other words, 
(1) According to the design of prior art electrical connectors as stated 
above, a row of terminal portions of the terminal bodies is firstly 
inserted into a row of through-holes of one printed circuit board and 
soldered thereto, and then after the terminal bodies between the mold 
members are flexibly bent according to the position of other printed 
circuit board, another row of terminal portions of the terminal bodies is 
inserted into a row of through-holes of the other printed circuit board 
and soldered thereto. Therefore, two positioning operations one for each 
row of terminal portions with respect to their through-holes of the 
circuit boards must individually be performed, thereby increasing the 
number of steps for insertion and requiring a relatively longer period of 
time; 
(2) As stated above, before insertion of each row of the terminal portions 
into each row of the through-holes of the printed circuit boards, precise 
positioning of each row of the terminal portions relative to the 
through-holes must be done. However, because there are no guide means for 
positioning the prior connectors, reliable insertion of the terminal 
portions will not occur taking a longer period of time to insert the 
terminal portions into the through-holes of the circuit boards. This 
becomes more significant especially in the case where both the terminal 
portions and the through-holes have small diameters, the pitch of the 
terminal portions arranged side by side is small, and the distance between 
both rows of the terminal portions is short; and 
(3) Recently, such type of insertion operation tends to be automatically 
performed by a robot. Such an automatic insertion operation, however, 
becomes more and more complicated because one or the other insertion 
operation must be individually performed as stated above. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a new and 
improved electrical connector having such construction that two rows of 
terminal portions of the terminal bodies can simultaneously be inserted 
into two rows of through-holes of the printed circuit board, thereby 
realizing effective electrical connection of the conductors on the printed 
circuit board. 
It is a object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector 
comprising a guide means for precisely positioning the terminal portions 
of the terminal bodies relative to the through-holes of the printed 
circuit board, thereby producing precise and rapid insertion of the 
terminal portions into the through-holes of the printed circuit board. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrical 
connector capable of realizing an automatic insertion operation by a 
robot. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrical 
connector adaptable to any type of printed circuit board irrespective of 
intervals between rows of the through-holes provided therein for insertion 
of the terminal portions of the terminal bodies. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrical 
connector having simple construction which enables economical 
manufacturing and ease of use of the same. 
In order to achieve the objects as stated above, the present invention 
provides a new and improved electrical connector having a plurality of 
terminal bodies (4A, 4B, 4C . . . ) each consisting of an elongate plate 
member, with the terminal bodies (4A, 4B, 4C . . . ) being disposed side 
by side at a predetermined pitch with their both end portions inserted 
through and supported in right and left mold members (1 and 2) which are 
separated from each other both end portions of the terminal bodies 
protruding from bottom surfaces of said mold members (1 and 2), said 
protruded end portions of the terminal bodies being configured as terminal 
portions (6 and 7) which are adapted for insertion into through holes (10 
and 11) provided in a printed circuit board (9), one row of the terminal 
portions (6) supported on and reinforced by one of the mold members (1) 
being inserted into one row of the through-holes (10) of the printed 
circuit board (9) and then another row of the terminal portions (7) also 
supported on and reinforced by one of the other mold members (2) being 
inserted into another row of said though-holes (11) of the printed circuit 
board (9), thereby electrically connecting the conductors on the printed 
circuit board (9) characterized in that: 
at the time both rows of the terminal portions of the terminal bodies are 
not still inserted into the corresponding ones of the through-holes of the 
printed circuit board (9), a distance "S" between both rows of the 
terminal portions (6 and 7) of the terminal bodies is made greater than an 
interval "T" between both rows of the through-holes of the printed circuit 
board (9) due to restoring elasticity of the bent portions (12) of the 
terminal bodies which extend between the pair of right and left mold 
members (1 and 2); and 
at the time both rows of the terminal portions of the terminal bodies are 
to be inserted into the corresponding ones of the through-holes of the 
printed circuit board (9), a pair of chuck members (13) each positioned 
outside of the pair of right and left mold members (1 and 2) are actuated 
to move the pair of right and left mold members (1 and 2) towards each 
other until opposite walls "K" of the mold members (1 and 2) are abutted 
against walls (14A and 14B) of a stop member (14) positioned between the 
right and left mold members (1 and 2), upon which the distance "S" between 
both rows of the terminal portions of the terminal bodies (4A, 4B, 4C . . 
. ) matches with the interval "T" between both rows of the through-holes 
of the printed circuit board (9), thereby enabling simultaneous insertion 
of both rows of the terminal portions (6 and 7) of the terminal bodies 
(4A, 4B, 4C . . . ) into both rows of the through-holes of the printed 
circuit board (9). 
According to the arrangement of the electrical connector as stated above, 
before the rows of terminal portions of the terminal bodies are inserted 
into the corresponding through-holes of the printed circuit board, the 
bent portions (12) of the terminal holes are kept in their expanded states 
due to their restoring elastic forces so that the distance "S" between two 
rows of the terminal portions is made greater than the interval "T" 
between two rows of the through-holes of the printed circuit board. Thus, 
in order to insert both rows of the terminal portions (6 and 7) into the 
corresponding rows of through-holes of the circuit board, the bent 
portions (12) of the terminal bodies are squeezed by means of the pair of 
right and left chuck members (13) and the stop member (14). In other 
words, the pair of right and left mold members (1 and 2) are moved towards 
each other by means of the pair of chuck members (13), thereby decreasing 
the spacing between both rows of terminal portions (6 and 7) until the 
opposite walls "K" of the pair of mold members (1 and 2) abut against the 
walls (14A and 14B) of the stop members (14). At this time, the distance 
"S" between both rows of terminal portions matches the interval "T" as 
defined above. Therefore, simply forcing the entire electrical connector 
towards the printed circuit board enables ease and reliable insertion of 
both rows of the terminal portions (6 and 7) into both rows of the 
through-holes (10 and 11) of the printed circuit board (9). Thereafter, 
the terminal portions (6 and 7) are soldered to the associated conductors 
on the printed circuit board (9) to achieve the electrical connection 
therebetween. 
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the flexible 
characteristics of the terminal bodies can be utilized to electrically 
connect the conductors on different printed circuit boards irrespective of 
relative positions thereof. 
It is to be understood from the foregoing that the present invention 
provides guide means for positioning both rows of the terminal portions so 
that the distance between them matches the interval between both rows of 
the through-holes of the printed circuit board, thereby achieving the 
precise, rapid and simultaneous insertion of both rows of the terminal 
portions into both rows of the through-holes of the printed circuit board, 
as well as realizing an automatic insertion by a robot.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
In the drawings, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote a set of right and left 
mold members separated from each other. The mold members 1 and 2 have lock 
pieces 3 integrally formed on their front and rear ends, respectively. A 
plurality of terminal bodies 4A, 4B, 4C . . . each consisting of an 
elongate flexible plate member are disposed in parallel at a predetermined 
pitch between these mold members 1 and 2. More particularly, one end of 
the terminal body 4A is inserted through and supported on one mold member 
1. As shown in FIG. 2, this end of the terminal body 4A protrudes beyond 
the bottom surface 5 of the mold member 1 and forms one terminal portion 
6. Similarly, the other end of the terminal body 4A is also inserted 
through and supported on the other mold member 2. The other end of the 
terminal body also protrudes beyond the bottom surface 5 of the mold 
member 2 and forms another terminal portion 7. As a consequence, both ends 
6 and 7 of the terminal bodies 4A, 4B, 4C . . . are structurally 
reinforced by their associated mold members 1 and 2. 
In addition, with reference to the parallel arrangement of the terminal 
bodies 4A, 4B, 4C . . . , partition walls 8 are integrally formed between 
portions of the mold members 1 and 2 on which the terminal bodies 4A, 4B, 
4C . . . are supported. A printed circuit board is represented by a 
reference numeral 9 and is provided with through-holes 10 and 11 into 
which said terminal portions 6 and 7 are inserted, and with lock holes 
(not shown) into which the lock pieces 3 are fitted. It is to be noted 
that in FIG. 2, one set of the through-holes 10 and 11 are only shown, but 
a plurality of these through-holes 10 and 11 are actually provided in 
parallel rows. 
Described thus far is a conventional electrical connector for 
interconnecting one conductor to another conductor on a printed circuit 
board. In contrast with this, for the purpose of achieving the objects of 
the present invention described earlier, the electrical connector 
according to the present invention is constructed as described below. In 
other words, assuming that "T" is an interval between one row of the 
through-holes 10 and another row of the through-holes 11 which are 
provided in the printed circuit board 9, and "S" is a distance between one 
of the terminal portions 6 reinforced by one mold member 1 and the 
corresponding terminal portions 7 reinforced by the other mold member 2 at 
the time before these terminal portions are not still inserted into the 
through-holes of the circuit board, then the connector is constructed such 
that the relation S&gt;T can be maintained. More particularly, terminal 
portion 6 is held approximately perpendicular to the printed circuit board 
9 in order to insert the terminal portion 6 into one of the through-holes 
10 in one row. And at the same time, the terminal portion 7 is also held 
approximately perpendicular to the cirucit board 9 so that the terminal 
portion 7 can be inserted into one of the through-holes 11 in other row. 
However, the relation S&gt;T can still be maintained due to the restoring 
resilience of a portion 12 of the terminal body supported on a pair of 
mold members 1 and 2. According to this embodiment, the portion 12 of the 
terminal body is shaped as a semi-circular bent portion. Alternatively, 
the portion 12 of the terminal body may be shaped as shown in FIG. 5 or 
may have an inverted V-shaped or a M-shaped bent portion. In addition to 
the body portion of the electrical connector, the invention further 
comprises a pair of chuck members 13 for squeezing the bent portion 12 in 
a predetermined manner and a stop member 14. The pair of chuck members 13 
are disposed outside the pair of mold members 1 and 2, are abutted against 
the side walls 1A and 2A of the mold members 1 and 2, and are brought 
closer to each other, thereby reducing the spacing between the mold 
members 1 and 2, which collapses the bent portion 12 of the terminal body 
so that the distance S between the end portions 6 and 7 is decreased. 
However, in order to limit the squeezing effect of the chuck members 13, 
the stop member 14 having stop walls 14A and 14B is disposed between the 
pair of mold members 1 and 2. The stop member 14 is dimensioned so that 
when the distance "S" between the end portions 6 and 7 becomes equal to 
"S'" which corresponds to the interval "T" between the through-holes 10 
and 11, the stop walls 14A and 14B of the stop member 14 abut against the 
opposite walls K of the mold members 1 and 2, respectively, thereby 
limiting further the squeezing effect of the chuck members 13. 
The electrical connector constructed according to the embodiment described 
above is operated as follows. Under the unmounted condition of the 
electrical connector, the distance "S" between end portions 6 and 7 of the 
terminal body is made greater than the interval "T" between the 
through-holes 10 and 11 of the printed circuit board 9 due to the 
restoring elasticity of the bent portion 12 of each terminal body 4A, 4B, 
4C . . . When the electrical connector is to be mounted on the printed 
circuit board 9, the end portions 6 and 7 of the terminal body are 
positioned facing directly towards the printed circuit board 9 as shown in 
FIG. 2. Then, the pair of chuck members 13 and the stop member 14 are 
actuated before performing insertion of the end portions 6 and 7 into the 
through-holes 10 and 11 of the circuit board 9. More precisely, the pair 
of chuck members 13 are abutted against the side walls 1A and 2A of the 
mold members 1 and 2. Thereafter, the squeezing action of the chuck 
members 13 brings the mold members 1 and 2 closer to each other, thereby 
reducing the distance between mold members 1 and 2 and thus further 
deforming the bent portion 12 of the terminal body. Eventually, the stop 
walls 14A and 14B of the stop member 14 abut against the opposite walls K 
of the mold members 1 and 2, respectively, which terminates the squeezing 
action of the chuck members. At this time, the distance "S'.+-. between 
the end portions 6 and 7 of the terminal body becomes equal to the 
interval "T" between the through-holes 10 and 11 of the printed circuit 
board 9. This enables the simultaneous smooth insertion of the end 
portions 6 and 7 of all the terminal bodies into the through-holes 10 and 
11 of the printed circuit board 9 by only forcing the mold members 1 and 2 
downwards. Thereafter, the end portions 6 and 7 can be soldered to the 
conductors on the printed circuit board 9. 
Selection of the stop member 14 is effected as follows. The values of "T" 
and "S'" as well as "Y" which is the distance between the walls K of the 
mold members 1 and 2 and the centers of end portions 6 and 7 are initially 
known. Thus the spacing X2 between the opposite walls K of the mold 
members are obtained by subtracting 2"Y" from "S" which equals to "T". 
Accordingly, it is easy to select the most suitable stop member 14 whose 
width "X1" is equal to the spacing "X2". In other words, before mounting 
the electrical connector on the printed circuit board, the stop member 14 
can be selected according to the interval "T" between the through-holes 10 
and 11 of the printed circuit board 9. Further, the stop member 14 must be 
constructed to have a shape that prevents the engagement of the stop 
member 14 with the bent portion 12 of the terminal body when it is 
subjected to the squeezing action of the chuck members 13 because at such 
time, the stop walls 14A and 14B of the stop member 14 are forced into 
abutment against the opposite walls K of the mold members 1 and 2. 
FIGS. 6 and 7 show another application of the present electrical connector 
wherein two printed circuit boards 15 and 16 are electrically connected to 
each other due to the deformability of the terminal bodies 4A, 4B, 4C . . 
. that can be bent according to relative positions of both printed circuit 
boards 15 and 16. In this regard, the electrical connector can be 
adaptable to a wide range of printed circuit boards provided that the 
interval "T" between through-holes of the boards is less than the distance 
"S'" between end portions of the terminal body. 
Thus, it is apparent from the foregoing that the electrical connector 
according to the present invention provides several advantageous effects 
as stated below. 
(1) Both end portions of both rows of the terminal bodies can 
simultaneously be inserted into both rows of the through-holes of the 
printed circuit board so that the effective insertion operation of the 
connector can be achieved; 
(2) In such insertion operation, the end portions of both rows of the 
terminal bodies can precisely be guided into the associated respective 
through-holes of printed circuit board, thereby achieving precise and 
rapid positioning and thus insertion of the electrical connector; 
(3) An automatic insertion operation by a robot mechanism can easily be 
realized; 
(4) The electrical connector according to the present invention can be 
adaptable to any type of the printed circuit board irrespective of 
intervals between rows of the through-holes provided therein for insertion 
of the terminal portions of the terminal bodies; and 
(5) The electrical connector according to the present invention has simple 
construction which enables economical manufacturing and easy use of the 
connector. 
Other modifications of this invention may become apparent to those skilled 
in the art. Therefore, the scope of this invention is to be limited only 
by the following claims: