Abstract:
An electrical connector includes a housing having outwardly extending sleeves for connection with a corresponding connector. The housing defines an aperture extending through the extending sleeves, and an electrically-conductive contact is retained within the interior space of the housing and extending into the aperture. The electrically-conductive contact has an end comprising a contact portion within the aperture and an opposite end comprising a push-in type contact element. A cap retains the contact within the interior space, enclosing the interior space, and defining a port to allow insertion of a conductor of various construction therethrough.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates generally to electrical connectors and more particularly, to an electrical connector with a push-in type contact. 
       BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART 
       [0002]    The present disclosure is directed towards a connector for an electrical circuit and more particularly to an electrical connector for a DC power supply. In general, the disclosed example connector provide a convenient and safe way to quickly connect, replace, and/or wire circuit elements together. In one known connector described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,661, a single piece molded connector housing is provided with a plurality of receiving bores each having an entry segment of a given diameter leading to a contact bearing of a lesser diameter and a forward segment of a larger diameter than the diameter of the bearing segment. Each of the bores includes a shoulder or step extending radially between the contact bearing segment and the forward segment defining a surface receiving the end of one or more lances formed in an electrical contact that preclude contact backout when fully inserted. 
         [0003]    The connector described, however, typically requires a complicated molding process to create the thickness of the housing with the required flexibility and a complicated boring process to create the through holes. Additionally, the conductors described require sophisticated manufacturing techniques complicating the assembly process. Furthermore, the described conductors are cylindrical in shape, thereby limiting the size of wire that the conductor can accept. Still further, the connector does not include any external visual indication that the conductors are properly seated behind the step, thus the conductors may be subject to backout over time and/or when removing the wire. 
         [0004]    Accordingly, there is an identifiable need for a connector that is adapted for use with a DC power supply including a universal pin-type DC power supply such as a universal MATE-N-LOK connector available from Tyco Electronics. The disclosed example connector provides for a different manufacturing technique, a push-in type contact for acceptance of multiple conductor sizes, and/or a connector that provides an indication that the contact is properly seated within the housing. The present disclosure provides one such connector. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of an example connector of the present disclosure. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2A  is an exploded front perspective view of the example connector of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0007]      FIG. 2B  is an exploded rear perspective view of the example connector of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is cross-section front perspective view of the housing of the example connector of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is cross-section rear perspective view of the housing of the example connector of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a rear elevational view of the example housing of  FIG. 1  a single contact inserted therein. 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an example contact of the example connector. 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a side elevational view of the example contact of  FIG. 6 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a top plan view of the example contact of  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    The following description of example electrical connectors is not intended to limit the scope of the description to the precise forms detailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings. 
         [0015]    Referring now to the figures, an example electrical connector  10  is generally shown. The example electrical connector  10  shows a push-in type contact having a  2 -pole design for connecting two sets of conductors, such as wires to a corresponding receiving connector, not shown. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the connector  10  could be designed for use with any number of poles and/or combinations of poles as desired. 
         [0016]    Referring in particular to  FIGS. 1-3 , the example connector  10  includes a housing  12  having a wire connect portion  16  that defines, in this example, an interior space  20 , and a pair of outwardly extending sleeves  17  defining a pair of apertures  18  extending along an axis of insertion of the connector  10  and a corresponding mating connector (not shown), such as a DC power supply. In one example, the corresponding mating connector is a universal MATE-N-LOK connector available from Tyco Electronics. As can be seen in the cross section of  FIG. 3 , the apertures  18  defined by the sleeves  16  are open to and join the interior space  20  of the wire connect portion  16 . The example housing  12  further includes a pair of hinged exterior tabs  19  allowing the exterior portion of the housing to flex for latching and/or engaging purposes. 
         [0017]    Returning to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , which each show an exploded view of the example connector  10 , the connector  10  also includes a push-in cap  22 . Together, the housing  12  and the cap  22  enclose two contacts  24  mounted in the apertures  18  and the interior space  20 . In addition to the interior space  20 , the wire connect portion  16  defines an open end  26  to receive the cap  22 . Regarding the wire connect portion  16 , the housing  12  defines at least one aperture  30  proximate to the open end  26  of the interior space  20 . The aperture  30  is adapted to engage a corresponding hook  32  which protrudes from the caps  22  to retain the cap  22  in the housing  12 . Additionally, the example cap  22  has a plurality of ports  34  extending through the cap  22 . These ports  34  provide access to the interior space  20  of the wire connect portion  16  to allow a conductor, such as a wire  40  to contact the retained contacts  24 . 
         [0018]    Still further, in the illustrated example, each of the hooks  32  includes a cammed surface  32   a  and a stepped surface  32   b  to securely engage the aperture  30  in a snap-fit arrangement. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, in the example shown, the proper seating of each of the hooks  32  in the proper aperture  30  will provide an externally visible confirmation of the proper seating of the cap  22  within the housing  12 . For instance, if the cap  22  is not properly seated, the cammed surface  32   a  will force the housing defining the opening  26  outwards from the cap  22 , providing a visual and physical indication that the cap  22  is improperly seated in the housing  12 . In still other examples, the hook  32  may be provided with a color indicator and/or other visual marker to identify when the cap  22  is properly retained in the aperture  30 . 
         [0019]    In at least one example, the housing  12  and the cap  22  are formed of a non-conductive material such as, for example, a thermoplastic material. As noted above, the housing  12  and/or the cap  22  may be formed of a flexible material to allow the deflection of the exterior tabs  19  and the insertion of the cap  22  into the housing  12 . It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, however, that the material used to form the housing  12  and the cap  22  need not be the same material, and furthermore, may be any suitable material including thermoplastics, thermosets, ceramics, conductive and non-conductive materials alike. 
         [0020]      FIGS. 3-5  illustrate the interior features of the wire contact portion  16  of the housing  12 . In the illustrated example of  FIGS. 3 and 4 , both the contacts  24  and the cap  22  typically located within the housing  12  have been removed for ease of illustration, while in  FIG. 5 , the cap  22  and only one of the contacts  24  has been removed. In this example, the wire contact portion  16  generally defines two compartments  50 A and  50 B. Each of the compartments  50 A,  50 B includes an upper portion  52  and a lower portion  54  such as a wire receiving compartment. The upper portion  52  is adapted to accept a contact portion of the contact  24  as described in detail below. The lower portion  54  is generally a four-sided compartment sized to accept the wire  40 , such as an 18 awg solid wire, inserted through ports  34  such as apertures  42  formed in the cap  22 . It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the apertures  42  and the compartments  50 A,  50 B may be sized to accept any size and/or type of suitable contact and/or wire such as larger/smaller contacts and wires of larger and/or smaller gauge as well as stranded and/or solid wires. As illustrated the walls of at least one of the compartments  50 A,  50 B may be tapered in cross section from the opening  26  to the middle of the housing to pinch and/or otherwise constrict the wire  40  when inserted into the compartment  50 A,  50 B. 
         [0021]    The upper portion  52  of each compartment  50 A,  50 B includes a pair of support rails  56 A,  56 B. The support rails  56 A,  56 B engage lateral edges of a support surface of the contacts  24 . A spring shoulder  76  provides a flat surface for the contacts to rest and can also be used to indicate that the contact  22  has been inserted to the proper depth. As previously noted, the interior of the housing  12  is open to and joins to the interior apertures  18  of the extending sleeves  17 . 
         [0022]    The lower portion  54  of each compartment is generally an enclosed structure having outer walls. An upper spring stop  60  extends between the upper portion  52  and the lower portion  54 . The spring stop  60  prevents over-deflection of the blade portion of the contact  24  and cooperates with inwardly convergent sloping surfaces, such as a guide wall  62  to direct incoming conductors into a seat defined by the outer walls and the guide walls. In operation, the lower portion  54  constrains the wire  40  to a confined area which may be of particular importance for some conductors, such as for example, with stranded wire conductors because the confined seats prevent the conductors from flattening out or splaying, which if it occurred could cause a reduction in the holding force of the push-in type contact elements  24 . As noted, the spring stop  60  may also limit deflection of the spring finger of the contact elements  24 . With the larger wire sizes it may be possible to cause plastic deformation of the spring fingers during insertion of the wire, and thus the spring stop  60  is disposed in the path of spring finger movement to limit flexure of the spring finger to an amount no more than their elastic limit. 
         [0023]      FIGS. 6-8  illustrate details of the example contact  24 . As illustrated, each example contact  24  is made of a suitable, electrically conductive material, such as for example, a  510 ,  511 , or  519  phosphorous bronze, brass, spring temper. The contact  24  defines a central plate  70  having a resilient contact  72  at one end and a contact portion  74  at the other end. The resilient contact  72  may be any suitable connector including, for example, a spring finger folded back on the central plate  70  at any suitable angle as desired. The spring finger serves as a push-in contact element that mechanically and electrically engages the wire  40  pushed into the housing  16  and includes a support surface  73  having lateral edges. A contact stop  75  ensures the contact  22  is inserted in the correct position by contacting the spring shoulder  76 . 
         [0024]    At an end opposite to the spring finger  72 , there is the contact portion  74 . In this example, the contact portion  74  is suitably sized and shaped to electrically engage an electrical contact in the corresponding receiving connector. Accordingly, because in this instance the contact portion is designed to matingly engage a post-type contact in a corresponding connector, the contact portion  74  defines a mating surface having a generally cylindrical shape. Thus, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that in the instance where the corresponding receiving connector includes a different type of contact, the shape and/or size of the contact portion  74  will vary. 
         [0025]    Having described the individual components of the connector  10 , attention can now be focused on  FIGS. 2A and 2B , which illustrate assembly of the connector  10  as follows. In this example, the contacts  24  are pushed into the housing  12  and into the wire receiving compartments  50 A and  50 B through the open end  26  of the housing  12 . The first contact  24  is arranged so that the lateral edges of its support surface  73  are adjacent to and supported by the support rails  56 A,  56 B. The contacts  24  are retained within the housing  12  by the cap  22  as described above. The recess defined by the lower portion  54  affords some space in which the resilient contact  72  may flex with insertion of the wire  40 . Once the contacts  24  are inserted, the connector  10  is ready for use. 
         [0026]    The use, operation, and function of the example disconnect  10  are as follows. To use the connector  10 , stripped wires  40  are pushed into the housing  22 . The stripped wires  40  fit through the apertures  42  formed in the cap  22  and slide under the resilient contact  72  (e.g., the spring fingers) of the contacts  24 . As noted above, the resilient contacts  72  flex to receive the wires  40 . Because any withdrawal of the wires  40  would tend to make the resilient contact  72  rotate toward the bottom edge of the housing, the contacts  24  are self-locking. Once the wires  40  are thus installed, the connector  10  is ready for use. 
         [0027]    It will be appreciated that while the example connector  10  is described as maintaining a single wire in each contact finger it will be appreciated that in some instances, their may be multiple wires retained by at least one finger as desired. For example, in some instances, multiple wires may be inserted into a single finger. 
         [0028]    Furthermore, it will be understood that throughout this description, relative designations such as “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “down”, “up”, etc, are used herein for reference purposes only, as there is nothing inherent in the orientation of the example disconnects that would make a particular orientation necessary. 
         [0029]    Although certain examples have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.