JPS587031B2 - Manufacturing method of multi-contact electrical connector - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a multi-contact electrical connector.

The method of manufacturing a multi-contact electrical connection consists of stamping or cutting a series of strip contact strip materials from a continuous sheet or strip of metal and cutting the contacts across a continuous web of flexible insulating material and at intervals along its length. and gluing the pieces of material together.

Contact strips are usually made by punching into the appropriate contact strip shape.

This is disadvantageous, especially when the dimensional tolerances are small, as the punching die wears out rapidly.

The method of the present invention is characterized in that the contact piece material is roll-formed to form the curved contact piece spring portion.

Rolls do not wear out as quickly as punching dies and are easy to process and replace.

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the figures.

The connector 1 comprises a series of contact strips 3 glued at spaced locations along a web 4 of plastics material.

Each contact piece includes a flat central portion 5, the ends of which are loops with opposed straight arms 7 that first converge to create a throat 8 of limited size and then widen to create a mouth 11. 6 is formed.

The free end 12 of the contact piece is folded back.

In use of the connector, a printed circuit board 2 is inserted into each loop through the mouth.

The arms of the loop open to grip the printed circuit board 2 and connect with the circuit board conductors 9.

The web 4 is sufficiently flexible so that the individual bends of the contact strips can accommodate variations in printed circuit board thickness and warpage.

Since the web is glued only to the central part of the contact piece,
The outer arm 7 of the loop is free to move.

However, the web has sufficient rigidity to allow the connector to maintain its shape.

The connector manufacturing apparatus includes a punching section 15, a subsequent laminating section 16 with a web supply reel 18, and a final rolling section 17 for delivering the finished connectors in a continuous strip.

The constituent elements of each part will be explained below in connection with the manufacturing method.

A continuous strip of sheet metal 74 is fed in the conventional manner between punching dies in the punching station 15 to form a ladder strip 75.

The cross member 76 of the strip plate 75 will later become the contact piece 3.

A continuous strip 77 of plastic material, such as MYLAR, is mounted on the laminate 16 and adhered to the center of the strip 75 with a suitable adhesive, such as DuPont No. 49000 or 49002.

Or KAPTON or NOM
Plastic strips such as AX) may be adhered with DuPont WA adhesive.

The laminated strips are No. 8, 9, 10, and 12, respectively.
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th to make a contact piece of the shape shown in the figure
It is sent to a rolling section 17 that includes four pairs of forming rolls shown in the figure.

In the primary forming stage (Fig. 4), each central annular groove 23
Upper and lower rolls 21, 22 having complementary annular protrusions 24 with chamfers 25 are included in the grooves.

A gap 27 adapted to the thickness of the material of the contact piece is formed on the roll 22.
The upper step 26 is created between the faces of the rolls.

The roll 22 is further stepped at 28 with a large gap 30 adapted to the composite thickness of the web and the contact piece.At this stage the loop is made up of the flat part 5 and the arm part 11.

In the second stage (FIG. 5) the rolls 31, 32 have complementary frustoconical surfaces 33.35 and 34.36, respectively.

The junctions of surfaces 33, 35 and 34, 36 define complementary annular grooves and protrusions 41, 39 and 42, 43 forming precursors 79, 81 of the outer portions of the loops.

The surface 36 is stepped at 37 to provide an annular recess 38 creating a gap 30' matching the composite thickness with the weft contact piece.

In the third stage (FIG. 6), the rolls 45, 46 have truncated conical surfaces facing oppositely to the rolls 31, 32, with grooves and protrusions 51, 52 and 55, 54 interdigitating each other.

The protrusion 52 is chamfered at 53.

These projections and grooves form the precursor of the loop 6 and the return portion 12 of the contact piece.

The grooves 55 are stepped at 56 to increase the gap between the rolls to accommodate the laminate portion of the contact piece.

In the final stage (FIG. 7), relatively little shaping takes place and the rolls 61, 62 are not fully engaged.

The roll 62 is divided into three parts, with the side rolls having sloped forming surfaces 72 to rotate the arms of each loop together to create the throat of the loop.

The protrusion 73 is narrower than the previous protrusion 54 to allow this rotational movement.

By using the final rotation step, a substantially closed loop can be obtained, which is not normally possible with conventional molding methods.

Debris 82 can be removed before or after passing through the roll.

The contact strip can then be cut to the desired length.

It should be noted that in practice multiple roll stages are necessary to provide a sufficiently slowly progressing forming stage.

Relatively small contact pieces can be manufactured using the method described above.

For example, the material has a thickness of 0.25 mm (0.0
Copper association (1 inch)
#725 copper, loop height 23 mm (0.91 inch), plastic sheet thickness 0.13 mm (0.005 mm)
inch).

In another example of a connector 83 (FIG. 11), a series of contact strips 84 are glued along a plastic (or paper) web 85 at intervals.

The cylindrical end of each contact strip can be inserted into a hole in a printed circuit board 86, and the other bent end 87 can be connected to a conductor 88 on the printed circuit board.

The connector is conveniently inserted into the circuit board with a carrier strip 89 to facilitate alignment of the contact pieces with their respective holes, and the carrier is removed after insertion.

Two opposing connectors can be mounted on printed circuit board 86, with other circuit boards inserted between the connectors as shown.

In a third example of a connector 91 shown in FIG. 12, rows of contact strips 92 are bonded to separate parallel webs 93 at intervals.

In all instances, the contact strips can be plated beforehand or after molding, or spot plated to obtain the desired contact surface.

In a second method of manufacturing the connector (FIG. 13), a continuous web 97 of plastic material is passed from a supply section 94 to a cutting section 9.
5, and the cut section is a length 9 of the contact piece from the continuous strip 98.
9 is cut and placed on a web 97 that has been previously applied with a suitable adhesive to complete the bonding.The bonding can also be done not by adhesive but by pressure, heat, or a suitable combination thereof. .

The web with the contact strip material adhered thereto is then threaded through a rolling section 96.

Forming the contact piece by rolling has advantages over conventional punching methods.

In the punching method, the repeated impact of the punching die causes the die to wear rapidly and require frequent replacement.

This is especially true when dimensional tolerances are small.

In contrast, the useful life of the roll is relatively long.

The interlocking roll surfaces are easier to carroe than punching dies.

The present invention can also be implemented in the following manner.

(1) A method for manufacturing a multi-contact piece electrical connector according to the claims, wherein the contact piece material is a cross member 76 of a ladder strip plate 75.
A method characterized by being formed as.

(2) A method of manufacturing a multi-contact electrical connector according to the claims, wherein the contact strip blanks 76, 99 are transformed into a loop 6 having one or both ends gripping a complementary electrical contact strip 9. A method characterized in that:

(3) A multi-contact electrical connector comprising a series of strip-like contact strips bonded to a continuous web of flexible insulating material across the material and spaced apart from each other along the length of the material, the contact strips comprising: 3, 92, 84 are connectors characterized in that they are provided with one or more curved contact spring parts 6, 87 by roll forming.

(4) The multi-contact piece electrical connector described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the contact pieces 3, 91 are rolled so as to have a spring loop 6 at one or both ends.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a connector manufactured by the method of the invention connected to two printed circuit boards, FIG. 2 is an end view of the connector, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a connector used in the first manufacturing method of the connector. 4, 5 and 6 are side views of the working surface of the forming rollers for the successive stages of connector forming; FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the working surface of the rolls for the final stage of connector forming; 8th
．． 9.10 is an end view of the connector after molding with the rolls of FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, respectively; FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a second example of the connector manufactured by the method of the present invention; and FIG. FIG. 13 is a partial perspective view of a third example of a connector manufactured by the method of the invention, and a schematic diagram of an apparatus used in the second method of manufacturing the connector. 1... Connector, 2... Circuit board, 3... Contact piece,
4... Web, 6... Spring part, 15... Punching part, 16... Laminate part, 76... Contact piece material, 8
4... Contact piece, 85... Web, 87... Spring portion, 92... Contact piece, 93... Web, 99... Contact piece material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Punching or cutting a series of contact strip blanks from a continuous sheet or strip of metal and applying said contact strip blanks to a continuous web of flexible insulating material across the material and spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction of the material. A method of manufacturing a multi-contact electrical connector comprising gluing, the method comprising roll forming said contact strip blanks 76, 99, 84, 92 to form curved contact spring portions 6, 87.