Patent GB-900633-A (GB)
Title: Method of and apparatus for forming contacts and inserting them in housings
IPC: H01R13/26
Filed: 1960-06-17
Abstract: 900,633. Making electrical contact assemblies; angular bending; shearing. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. June 17, 1960 [June 29, 1959], No. 21316/60. Classes 83 (2) and 83 (4). A method of forming and assembling electrical contact elements 10 includes the steps of feeding a strip of contact material in a feed direction from one side of the housing through a passage 22 in the housing so that an end portion 11 of the strip protrudes from the other side of the housing, shaping said end portion into a contact configuration, seating this end portion in the housing by reversing the feed, and cutting the strip on the feed side of the housing from the remainder of the strip to sever the end portion and leave the contact element in position in the housing. An apparatus for forming and inserting contact elements comprises means to move the housing into position at a first station 50, means to feed the end of a strip 40 of a contact material through a passage in the housing, means to form an end portion of the strip into a contact configuration, means to reverse the feed to seat said end portion in the housing and sever it from the remainder of the strip. A pre-formed housing 20 is drawn along guide rails 410, 420 by feed fingers 433 which engage in notches 24 in the housing, and which are pivoted to a rectangular bar 432 which is operated by a pneumatic cylinder 430. Strip feeding.-Strip contact material 40 carried on eight drums passes through a roll straightener 70 to a stock feeding mechanism which feeds the strips through a row of aligned passageways 22 in the housing and therebeyond to extend between a pair of forming dies 300. After the contacts have been formed to either of the shapes shown in Fig. 3 or 4, the feeding mechanism reverses and pulls the contacts down so that the part 13 seats on the floor 21 of the cavity 30 and the locking dimples 14 engage the walls of the passage 22. The feeding mechanism is raised by a cylinder 111 and the additional power necessary to draw the dimpled contacts back into the passages 22 is provided by a cylinder 161 acting through gearing 163, a cam 160 and a follower 169 fixed to the feeding mechanism. Cut-off mechanism.-When the contacts have been seated in the housing a row of punches 220 (Fig. 11) are actuated by a cylinder 231 through a toggle linkage 233, 234. Associated with each punch is a spring-loaded plunger 240 which clamps the strip as the punch operates. The stock feeding mechanism, the cut-off mechanism and the roll straightener are mounted on a main slide 120 operated by cylinders 121, so that the ends of the stock can be drawn down clear of the ends of the contacts to allow the housing to be advanced to the next work station. The contact material is clamped to the feeding mechanism on its upward stroke by ball latches 114 seated in wedge grooves 113 and acted on by a spring 115. When the formed contacts are being seated the material is clamped by a serrated bar 118 located in a recess with an inclined wall. The bar is biased to the clamping position by a spring 124 and has projecting pins 125 which are acted on by levers 127 to move the bar against the spring. During the stockfeeding operation the latch bar is held out of engagement with the material, but as the feed slide 110 reaches the top of its travel, the ends of the levers engage abutments which move the levers down and allow the latch bar to clamp the material during the downward movement of the main slide 120. Forming dies.-The forming dies 300 are operated by cams 330, 340, driven through a rack-and-pinion gear 332, 342 and 350 by a cylinder 351. The passageways 22 in the housing are alternately disposed in two spaced-apart rows, and two spaced-apart sets of apparatus 50, 60 are provided to enable a set of contacts to Fig. 3 to be inserted and formed at the same time as a set of contacts to Fig. 4 are inserted and formed. The advance of the housing at each movement of the cylinder 430 is twice the distance between adjacent rows of passageways 22. Each part of the mechanism is operated by a separate pneumatic cylinder, the valve of which is controlled by a relay operated solenoid. The relays are controlled by limit switches mounted on the apparatus so that the first operation cannot occur until a housing is in the correct position and thereafter the sequence of operations follows automatically. Specification 900,632 is referred to.