ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS

• US 3,716,817 A
• Filed: 04/21/1971
• Issued: 02/13/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Donald M. Bowdish, William D. Wolfe Jr
• Original Assignee: Donald M. Bowdish, William D. Wolfe Jr
• Inventors: Wolfe, William D. Jr., Bowdish, Donald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): McGlynn, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US05/135,911
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 339/74,75,93,111,217,258,259,262
• US Class Current: 439/346
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/20 Pins, blades, or sockets shaped, or provided with separate member, to retain co-operating parts together
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 31/02 Intermediate parts for distributing energy to two or more circuits in parallel, e.g. splitter with a holder adapted for supporting apparatus to which its counterpart is attached H01R33/92

Abstract

An electrical connection is formed by a pair of connectors which engage one another such that contact resistance between the two is extremely low. The one connector is attached to a wire and has a hollow barrel surrounded by a flange. The other connector is disposed within a socket and includes a pin sized to fit within a barrel and a plurality of resilient contact fingers spaced around the pin and in electrical contact therewith. When the first connector is inserted into the socket, the barrel passes over the pin and between the fingers so that the pin engages the internal surface of the barrel while the fingers engage the external barrel surface. The socket contains a locking clip which engages the flange on the barrel and prevents withdrawal of the first connector from the socket.

Claims

1. An electrical connection comprising:

a. A block having a socket provided with an open end and a closed end, b. a connector in the socket and including;

i. a pin mounted rigidly with respect to the block and projecting into the socket from the closed end thereof, and ii. resilient contact fingers positioned around the pin and having outwardly flared ends presented toward the open end of the socket, the resilient contact fingers being formed integral with and extended from a common base of substantially the same thickness as the fingers, the base being positioned against the closed end of the socket and being extended inwardly toward the pin so that the pin passes through the base, the base being in electrical contact with the pin where the pin passes through it so that current will be conducted between the pin and the contact fingers;

c. locking means in the socket and fixed relative to the longitudinal axis thereof and of the pin, the locking means including retention fingers which project inwardly and obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis of the pin and generally toward the pin; and

d. a mating connector element including i. a barrel having a hollow interior which opens outwardly from the forward end thereof and is sized to receive the pin, the barrel being thicker than the spacing between the opposed contact fingers, whereby when the mating contactor is inserted into the socket the barrel will pass over the pin and will further engage and spread the contact fingers so that the contact fingers will engage the external surface of the barrel, and ii. a shoulder fixed in position relative to the barrel and located such that it will pass beyond the ends of the retention fingers when the mating connector is inserted into the socket, the mating connector at the outer periphery of the shoulder being wider than the spacing between opposed retention fingers, whereby the mating connector will spread the retention fingers as it is inserted into the socket, and thereafter the retention fingers will snap inwardly so that their free ends are disposed opposite to the shoulder and prevent withdrawal of the mating connector from the socket.

2. An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein the locking means further includes a sleeve disposed in the socket, the retention fingers being formed integral with and extended from one end of the sleeve, and the flared ends of the contact fingers being connected to and formed integral with the other end of the sleeve.

3. An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein the contact fingers have tabs formed integral therewith and projecting toward the base, the spacing between the tabs of opposed fingers being less than the thickness of the pin so that the tabs also engage the external surface of the barrel when the barrel is passed over the pin.

4. An electrical connector disposed within a socket of an insulated block and adapted to engage and form an electrical connection with a mating connector having a hollow barrel at its end and a flange, the socket having closed and open ends and further containing locking means having resilient retention fingers which project obliquely toward the closed end of the socket for engaging the flange on the mating connector and thereby holding the mating connector in the socket;

said connector comprising;

resilient contact fingers forked integral with and extended from a common base located adjacent to the closed end of the socket, the base extending generally across the closed end of the socket and being substantially the same thickness as the fingers, the fingers at their ends located remote from the base being flared outwardly, the fingers further being spaced apart a distance less than the thickness of the barrel so that the fingers will engage the external surface of the barrel when the mating connector is inserted into the socket; and

a pin projecting into the socket from the closed end thereof and being positioned between opposed contact fingers, the pin further projecting through and contacting the base from which the contact fingers extend so as to be in electrical contact with the base at that location, whereby current will be conducted between the pin and contact fingers, the pin being sized to fit into the hollow interior of the barrel on the mating connector such that it comes into contact with the barrel, whereby the barrel of the mating connector is electrically connected to the connector through the pin and the contact fingers thereof.

5. An electrical connector according to claim 4 wherein the pin projects axially beyond the contact surfaces on the fingers, whereby the barrel of the other connector will disengage the fingers before disengaging the pin.

6. An electrical connector according to claim 4 wherein the contact fingers have tabs which project inwardly therefrom and have contact surfaces located axially from the contact surfaces of the fingers, the contact surfaces on opposed tabs being spaced apart a distance less than the width of the barrel so that the contact surfaces of the tabs will likewise engage the external surface of the barrel on the other connector when the barrel is passed over the pin.