Terminal and terminal holder mounting arrangement for an electric connector

A terminal and terminal holder mounting arrangement includes a terminal holder, and a plurality of terminals installed in the terminal holder and adapted for mounting on a circuit board to receive an electric connector, the terminal holder having a front body, a rear body, and an opening transversely disposed on the middle between the front body and the rear body, the terminals being inserted through the opening of the terminal holder and respective terminal channels at the top side of the front body of and respective positioning grooves at the bottom side of the rear body, each terminal having one end terminating in a front end pin portion extended over the front side of the front body and bent downwards, an opposite end terminating in a rear end pin portion extended over the rear side of the rear body and bent upwards, and an expanded locating block positioned in locating grooves in the terminal channels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 The present invention relates to a terminal and terminal holder mounting
 arrangement for an electric connector, and more particularly to such a
 terminal and terminal holder mounting arrangement, which simplifies the
 assembly procedure of the electric connector, and reduces its
 manufacturing cost.
 Various electric terminal and terminal holder mounting designs have been
 disclosed. FIG. 10 shows a prior art design. According to this design, a
 special tool must be used to bend the terminals to the desired shape.
 After installation of the terminals in the terminal holders, partition
 plates must be installed to prevent contact between terminals.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 It is one object of the present invention to provide a terminal and
 terminal holder mounting arrangement for an electric connector, which
 simplifies the assembly process of the electric connector. It is another
 object of the present invention to provide a terminal and terminal holder
 mounting arrangement for an electric connector, which greatly reduces the
 manufacturing cost of the electric connector. To achieve these and other
 objects of the present invention and according to one aspect of the
 present invention, there is provided a terminal and terminal holder
 mounting arrangement, which comprises a terminal holder injection molded
 from plastics, and a plurality of terminals installed in the terminal
 holder and adapted for mounting on a circuit board to receive an electric
 connector. The terminal holder comprises a front body, a rear body, and an
 opening transversely disposed on the middle between the front body and the
 rear body. The terminals are inserted through the opening of the terminal
 holder and respective terminal channels at the top side of the front body
 of and respective positioning grooves at the bottom side of the rear body,
 each having one end terminating in a front end pin portion extended over
 the front side of the front body and bent downwards, an opposite end
 terminating in a rear end pin portion extended over the rear side of the
 rear body and bent upwards, and an expanded locating block positioned in
 locating grooves in the terminal channels. According to another aspect of
 the present invention, the terminals are formed integral with a breakable
 material strip, which can be broken and separated from the terminals after
 the terminals had been positioned in the terminal holder. According to
 still another aspect of the present invention, the terminals each have end
 pin portions at two distal ends, and two bending portions extended from
 the end pin portions toward each other for enabling the end pin portions
 to be bent to the desired direction by hand without the use of a hand
 tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
 Referring to FIGS. from 1 through 3, a terminal and terminal holder
 mounting arrangement in accordance with the present invention comprises a
 terminal module 1, and a terminal holder 2.
 Referring to FIG. 1 again, the terminal module 1 comprises a material strip
 12, and a plurality of terminals respectively extended from one side of
 the material strip 12 in same direction. The terminals 11 each comprise a
 positioning unit 111, two end pin portions 113 at two distal ends, and two
 bending portions 112 respectively connected between two distal ends of the
 positioning unit 111 and the end pin portions 113. The positioning unit
 111 has an expanded locating block 1111.
 Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 again, the terminal holder 2 is injection-molded
 from plastics, comprising an opening 21 transversely disposed on the
 middle, which separates the terminal holder 2 into a front body and a rear
 body, a plurality of channels 22 arranged in parallel at the front body, a
 plurality of positioning rails 24 formed integral with the rear body and
 protruded over the rear side of the rear body, and a plurality of
 positioning grooves 241 arranged in parallel at the bottom side of the
 rear body portion and separated by the positioning rails 24. The partition
 wall between each two adjacent channels 22 has a rear end terminating in a
 stop block portion 23 disposed adjacent to the opening 21 and a necking
 portion 231 at the bottom side of the stop block portion 23, and two
 locating grooves 221 symmetrically disposed at two opposite sides and
 respectively forwardly extended from the stop block portion 23.
 Referring to FIGS. from 4 through 9 and FIGS. from 1 through 3 again, the
 remote end pin portions 113 of the terminals 11 of the terminal module 1
 are respectively obliquely inserted through the opening 21 of the terminal
 holder 2 from the top side toward the bottom side (see FIG. 5), and then
 the material strip 12 is turned downwards (see FIG. 6) to force the
 expanded locating blocks 111 of the terminals 11 into the locating grooves
 221 in each channel 22 and a part of each terminal 11 into the positioning
 grooves 241 (see FIGS. 2 and 7), and then the material strip 12 is pushed
 forwards toward the terminal holder 2 to stop the expanded locating blocks
 111 of the terminals 11 at the necking portions 231 at the bottom side of
 the stop block portions 23 in the channels 22 (see FIGS. 4 and 8), and
 then the material strip 12 is broken and separated from the terminals 11,
 and then end pin portions 113 at the front side of the terminals 11 and
 the end pin portions 113 at the rear side of the terminals 11 are
 respectively bent downwards and upwards for further connection to the
 matching electric connector and the matching circuit board.
 While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and
 described, it will be understood that various modifications and changes
 could be made thereunto without departing the spirit and scope of the
 invention disclosed.