Male contact having contact entangling prevention means

Abstract: A male contact (100) comprises a main body (130). a contact section (110) extending forwardly from the main body, and a termination portion (120) extending rearwardly from the main body. A top wall (133) of the main body (130) is formed from two top plates (133a, 133b) which are superimposed on each other. Blocking walls (136, 137) project from the inside top plate (133b) in the vicinity of the rear end of the main body (130) and in the vicinity of its front end, and extend into contact with, or close proximity to, the bottom wall (131) of the main body.

Description: The present invention relates to a male contact for an electrical connector. Male contacts having a contact portion disposed at a front end, and a wire termination section at a rear end are known in the art. In such male contacts, a box shaped part having a top wall is formed by raising both sides of a flat plate and further bending both sides of this flat plate. An intermediate part is generally located between the contact portion and the wire termination section. A stabilizer extends from a portion of the contact to prevent it from rotating inside the housing, and an engaging hole receives a housing lance that is used to secure the male contact into the housing. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. H9-82396 discloses a connector which is equipped with such a male contact, capable of detecting partial-insertion of the contact, and having high retention strength when the contact is fully inserted. A plurality of male contacts are generally manufactured and are inserted into such a connector housing after electrical wires have been terminated to the respective termination sections. During this process, the contact portions of some male contacts may be inadvertently inserted into the termination sections or box shaped parts of others before assembly into the connector housing. When such inadvertent insertion occurs. it is difficult to separate the contacts from each other. During separation, the contact portion is usually bent or otherwise damaged. In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. H9-82396, a wall that prevents the entry of male contact parts is formed in the termination section. However, this wall is formed so as only to cover a portion of the termination section that engages a retainer. Entry of the contact portions of other male contacts is therefore not completely prevented. Which is considered to represent the closest prior-art. EP-A-0 821 435 discloses a male contact having a main body, a termination section extending rearwardly from the main body and a contact portion extending forwardly from the main body. The main body is formed by a bottom wall, a pair of side walls and a top wall comprising two superimposed plates. Since an area between the termination section and the top wall is open to the exterior, entry of the contact portions of other male contacts from this area into the main body is not prevented. In the light of these problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a male contact in which contact sections are prevented from entering the contact sections of other male contacts. To this end, the invention resides in a male contact as set forth in claim 1 hereof. The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a male contact of the present invention. Figure 2 is a side view of the male contact of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a front end view of the male contact of the present invention. Figure 4 is a rear end view of the male contact. Figure 5 is a sectional view along the line Z-Z in Figure 1. Figure 6 is a sectional taken along the line Y-Y in Figure 1. Figure 7 is a sectional taken along the line YY-YY in Figure 1. The male contact 100 is shown with a carrier 10 that is required for manufacturing. This carrier 10 is removed after the contact is formed and prior to termination. A contact portion 110 bent from a blank is located at a front end and has a thickness that is approximately twice the thickness of the blank. This contact portion 110 establishes electrical contact with a female contact (not shown). A stabilizing section 111 protrudes in the lateral direction near the root portion of the contact portion 110. This stabilizing section 111 is used to position the male contact 100 in the housing by entering a groove in the housing. A wire termination section 120 to which an electrical wire (not shown) is connected is formed at the rear end of the male contact 100. This wire termination section 120 is equipped with an insulation barrel 121 which is used to grip the insulated portion of the electrical wire, and a wire barrel 122 for receiving of electrical wire. The termination section 120 is crimped onto the electrical wire by known methods. A main body 130 is located between the contact section 110 and termination portion 120. The main body 130 is formed by a bottom wall 131, side walls 132 extending up from both sides of the bottom wall 131, and a top wall 133. The top wall 133 is constructed from two superimposed top plates 133a and 133b, as is shown in Figure 5. A stabilizer 134 is cut and bent from the bottom wall 131. This stabilizer 134 stabilizes the male contact 100 in the housing by entering a groove in the housing when inserted therein. Furthermore, the stabilizer 134 acts as a key so that the male contact 100 can be inserted into the housing only when it is correctly oriented with respect to the housing. The bottom wall 131 has an engaging hole 135 which is formed by the material removed for the stabilizer 134. This engaging hole 135 engages a housing lance to prevent the male contact from pulling out of the housing. As shown in Figure 5, two stop walls 136 and 137 which extend from the inside top plate 133b are also disposed in the main body 130. Of these two walls 136 and 137, one wall 136 is formed in the vicinity of the rear end of the main body 130, while the other wall 137 is formed in the vicinity of the front end near the engaging hole 135. Here, the free ends of the walls 136 and 137 are disposed in extremely close proximity to the bottom wall 131. The gap between the free ends of the walls 136 and 137 and the bottom wall 131 is preferably between 0 mm and 0.25 mm. The reason that the free ends of the walls are in contact with the bottom wall 131 is that formation of the main body 130 is not easy if such contact is made. Such disposition of the free ends of the walls and the bottom wall 131 in close proximity to each other also serves to reinforce the strength of the main body 130 against external forces applied from the vertical direction and to facilitate forming of the contact 100. These two walls 136 and 137 serve to block insertion of a contact section 110 of another contact. Accordingly, mutual entanglement of the male contacts is prevented. Consequently. bending of the male contacts, which have tended to occur when such contact parts are separated in conventional devices, are naturally prevented.

Claims: A male contact (100) having a termination section (120) extending rearwardly from a main body (130), a contact portion (110) extending forwardly from the main body, and a bottom wall (131) , a pair of side walls (132) and a top wall (133) forming the main body, the top wall being formed of two superimposed plates (133a, 133b), characterised in that the top wall has front and back walls (136, 137) extending downwardly therefrom to block forward and rearward openings in the main body. The male contact of claim 1 wherein the front and back walls (136, 137) extend from the top wall (133) to the bottom wall (131). The male contact of claim 1 or 2 wherein a stabilizer (134) extends from at least one of the side walls (132). The male contact of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the termination section (120) comprises a wire termination section (122). The male contact of claim 4 wherein the termination section (120) comprises an insulation barrel (121) extending from the wire termination section (122).

Inventors: IRIKURA KENTARO, KITAMURA HIROSHI, IRIKURA, KENTARO, KITAMURA, HIROSHI
Applicants: TYCO ELECTRONICS AMP KK, TYCO ELECTRONICS AMP K.K.
Application year: 2001
Main classification: H01R13
IPC codes: H01R4, H01R13, H01R24, H01R107