US3686617A - Multi-contact electrical connector assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

An insulator housing is provided having a plurality of openings extending from the back face to the front face thereof. The plurality of openings are located symmetrical about a vertical and horizontal axis passing through the middle of the front face of the housing. The horizontally adjacent openings are staggered vertically. A plurality of extensions extend forward from the front face of the insulator housing, each extension having a vertical member and two horizontal members extending laterally from opposite sides of the vertical member, one at either end thereof. A contact is located within each of the openings and extends forward of the openings coextensive with the extensions. The location of the extensions and the orientation of the horizontal members are such that the extensions interleave with extensions of an identical connector assembly regardless of the orientation to form a guide means and protective enclosure for each of said contact members.

Description

States Patent Uberbacher [54] MULTI-CONTACT ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY [72] Inventor: Edward C. Uberbacher, Poughkeepsie, NY.

[73] Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY.

22 Filed: March 30,1971

21 Appl.No.: 129,431

1151 3,686,617 14 1 Aug. 22, 1972 Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion Assistant Examiner-Terrell P. Lewis Attorney-Hanifin and Jancin and Harold H. Sweeney, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT An insulator housing is provided having a plurality of openings extending from the back face to the front face thereof. The plurality of openings are located symmetrical about a vertical and horizontal axis passing through the middle of the front face of the housing. The horizontally adjacent openings are staggered vertically. A plurality of extensions extend forward from the front face of the insulator housing, each extension having a vertical member and two horizontal members extending laterally from opposite sides of the vertical member, one at either end thereof. A contact is located within each of the openings and extends forward of the openings coextensive with the extensions. The location of the extensions and the orientation of the horizontal members are such that the extensions interleave with extensions of an identical connector assembly regardless of the orientation to form a guide means and protective enclosure for each of said contact members.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures l l I 1 4 1 Patented Aug. 22, 1972 3,686,617

.2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.1

INVENTOR EDWARD C4 UBERBACHER ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 22, 1972 .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MULTI-CONTACT ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a multi-contact electrical connector assembly and more particularly, to a connector assembly having a higher density of contacts and having a protective extension for protecting the contacts and guiding the interconnection thereof.

Interconnection between cables having a large number of individual wires has been accomplished by two connector halves in which one consists of a multitude of pins and the other consists of an equal multitude of receptacles for the pins. Asthe density of the number of connections to be made has increased, the size of the units has been maintained and in some cases made smaller so that the pins have become very small in diameter and consequently very fragile.

Male contacts other than pins are also available for making multi-electrical connections. The same disadvantages exist with respect to this type of contact. That is, the contact must extend from the surface or opening so that it can fit into the receptacle on the other half of the connector. Again, before the connection is made, this leaves the extending part of the contact open to bending or other damage especially when the connector is very small and fragile. U. S. Pat. No. 3,112,974, issued Dec. 3, 1963, shows a multi-contact electrical connector which has contacts which project from the mating faces of the blocks. It will be appreciated that the contacts, when in position within a connector half, are vulnerable to bending and injury of the extended portion of the contacts. The flanges, etc. which surround the entire face of the block do not prevent injury to the individual contacts.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-contact electrical connector in which the contacts are protected from external injury.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-contact electrical connector which, when assembled with a mating identical multi-connector, provides a protective housing completely surrounding each of the electrical contacts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-contact electrical connector in which the protective extensions are so configured that identical connectors are connectable regardless of the orientatron. I

It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-contact electrical connector in which the protective extensions on the connectors serve as positive guide means for connecting the contacts.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-contact electrical connector in which the contacts are staggered, thereby diminishing crosstalk.

A multi-contact electrical connector is provided consisting of an insulator housing having a plurality of extensions located between alternate openings and have the horizontal members extending in identical lateral directions. The extensions extending from the first and third quadrants have the vertical members located between the opposite alternate openings and have the horizontal members extending in the opposite lateral directions to the vertical members and the horizontal members of the extensions in the second and fourth quadrants. Each opening has a contact member located therein which extends forward of the openings in the face of said insulator housing coextensive with the extensions. The extensions, when interleaved with extensions of an identical interconnector assembly form a contact guide means and protective enclosure for each of said contact members.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as'illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a vertical elevation view showing a multicontact electrical connector.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of FIG. 1 showing the layout of the openings and the relation of the extensions with respect thereto.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view rotated located along the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an expanded view showing the intermeshing of the extensions of identical multi-contact electrical connectors.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view showing the contacts of mating connectors in engagement.

Referring to FIG. 1, aninsulator housing 10 is shown which is usually a one-piece molded plastic housing. Theopenings 12 that pass from theback face 14 to thefront face 16 of the housing are shown in FIG. 3. Theseopenings 12 are also seen in thefront face 16 or bottom view of FIG. 2. Theopenings 12 are staggered one with another for two reasons. The staggering puts an offset distance between theadjacent contacts 18 which are to be held in therespective openings 12 so that the crosstalk is diminished. Also, theopenings 12 are staggered so that thetuning fork contact 18 in therespective openings 12 of connectors to be connected together will correctly interconnect. A plurality ofextensions 20 extend forward from thefront face 16 of the multicontact connector element. Theseextensions 20 have avertical element 22 and twolateral elements 24,26. Thelateral element 24,26 extend laterally from the upper and lower end of thevertical element 22 in opposite directions. Thevertical element 22 of theextension 20 runs vertically betweenalternate openings 12. It should be noted that the downwardly staggeredopenings 12 in both the first and second row of openings are directly beneath one another. The upwardly staggeredopenings 12 are likewise aligned vertically. However, theextensions 20 do not extend from between the samealternate openings 12 in both rows of openings nor do thelateral members 24,26 of theextensions 20 extend in the same directions. For example, the first half of the first or top row ofextensions 20 in FIG. 2 have the lateral extensions'24 at the top of thevertical member 22 extending to the right forming the top of the upwardlystaggered opening 12. The lateral extendingmember 26 extending from the bottom of thevertical member 22 in the first half of the first row of extensions extends to the left and forms the bottom of the downwardly staggeredopening 12. The second half of the first row of extensions has the extensions extending from between the oppositealternate openings 12 in comparison to the first half of the first row. Also, thelateral element 24 at the top of thevertical element 22 of theextension 20 extends to the left and forms the top of the downwardly staggeredopening 12 while the bottomlateral element 26 extends to the right and forms the bottom of the downwardly staggeredopening 12. In other words, the extensions in the first and second halves of the first row of extensions are complementary to one another so that the same type multicontact electrical connector, if rotated about the vertical Y axis shown in dotted form in FIG. 2, would intermesh with theextensions 20 shown in the first half of the first row of extensions of FIG. 2. It can be seen, that thevertical elements 22 of theextensions 20 of the second half of the first row of extensions would fit in between theopenings 12 in which there is no extension and thelateral members 24,26 would complete the enclosing of the extended openings. Theextensions 20 of the first half of the second row are exactly the same as those of the second half of the first row. Thus, if the identical electrical connector is rotated about the horizontal X axis, theextensions 20 of the first half of the second row of extensions would intermesh with theextensions 20 of the first half of the first row of extensions of the non-rotated element. Likewise, theextensions 20 of the second half of the second row are identical to theextensions 20 of the first half of the first row so that the extensions of the second half of the second row will intermesh with the extensions of the second half of the first row on a similar connector when one of the connectors is rotated about the horizontal X axis. Also, this arrangement of the extensions of the second half of the second row, when rotated about the Y axis, will intermesh with the extensions of the first half of the second row on a similar connector. Thus, dividing the face of the electrical connector into quadrants by bisecting the middle of thefront face 16 by the vertical Y and horizontal X axes, theextensions 20 of the first and third quadrants are the same and theextensions 20 of the second and fourth quadrants are the same. It will be appreciated that each of these quadrants are shown as containing a half row ofextensions 20. The number ofextensions 20 in the quadrants can be expanded to contain any number of rows or other configuration as long as the extensions in the quadrants, which are to interconnect, are maintained complementary. In other words, theextensions 20 of the first and fourth, as well as the first and second, quadrants have to be designed complementary so that they can intermesh. Likewise, theextensions 20 of the second and third quadrants, as well as the third and fourth quadrants, have to be designed so that they can intermesh. Theextensions 20 of the first and third quadrants are identical and theextensions 20 of the second and fourth quadrants are also identical. Thus, the multi-contact electrical connector is made so that it is connectable to an identical connector regardless of the orientation of one, with respect to the other.

It can be seen from FIG. 4, when the identical connector elements are interconnected, that thevertical elements 22 form the side walls of the extended openings while thelateral member 24,26 of theextensions 20 intermesh to complete the top and bottom walls of the extended openings. Thus, the extended openings are completely surrounded by walls when the connectors are intermeshed or connected.

A tuningfork type contact 18 is inserted into each of theopenings 12 in thehousing 10. Thesecontacts 18 are inserted from therear face 14 of thehousing 10 and are pushed into position until thehousing wall stud 28 fits into the bottom of the U-shaped middle portion of thetuning fork contact 18. This arrests the forward motion and correctly locates the forward position of the tuning fork contact. One wall of theopening 12 is in the form of abeam 30. Thebeam 30 is free at the forward end and thus bends allowing thecontact 18 to be inserted. Once thecontact 18 is in the position determined by thestud 28, the back shoulders 32 on thecontact 18 should be abutting thecutout portions 34 of theopening 12 as shown in FIG. 3. One of thesecutout portions 34 is actually the end of thebeam 30 which, after the displacement during the insertion of thetuning fork contact 18, returns to its natural position. Thebeam 30 is formed during the molding process by locating a cavity both on .the top and bottom surfaces of the housing so that only a thinelongated beam member 30 results. The remaining portion is thin enough to actually be flexible thus forming the desiredbeam 30. Thecutout portions 34 in the forward part of theopening 12 abut theshoulders 32 on thecontact 18 so that thecontact 18 cannot be pulled or pushed back through theopening 12 when pressure is applied at the front or back thereof. Thus, theshoulders 32 tend to lock thetuning fork contact 18 in place in conjunction with thestud 28. Thetuning fork contact 18 is a very thin element and, therefore, theopening 12 in which it is contained is very thin. Thetuning fork contacts 18, when interconnected with one another, that is, when identical connectors are interconnected, the arrange ment, as explained previously, provides an upwardly staggered opening mating with a downwardly staggered opening. This can be seen, when it is realized that the upwardly staggered openings in parallel rows are vertically aligned and the downwardly staggered openings are also vertically aligned so that when, for example, the second row is rotated about the X axis, the downwardly staggered opening is placed essentially face to face with the downwardly staggered opening in the row above in the opposite element. However, in rotating about the X axis, the downwardly staggered opening, in the rotated element, becomes an upwardly staggered opening. Thus, upward and downward staggered openings become vertically aligned when juxtaposed in mating faces and thetuning fork contacts 18 therein are offset vertically so that the upward tine of thecontact 18 in the downwardly staggered opening fits between the tines of thecontact 18 located in the upwardly staggered opening and the bottom tine of the contact in the upwardly staggered opening fits between the tines of thecontact 18 located in the downwardly staggered opening.

As can be seen in FIG. 4A, this type of intermeshing of thecontacts 18 gives a wiping action when the identical connectors are interconnected and gives a multi-contacting surface. For example, the upper tine contacts the upper surface of the upper tine of the opposingcontact 18 and the tine which fits in between the tines of the contact of the opposing element contacts both the upper and lower tine. Thus, there are three contact areas. It will be appreciated that this arrangement considerably improves the reliability of the connection giving more contact area and better reliability over that of a single contact area. The side walls of the extended openings formed by the intermeshing of theextension 20 keeps the tines of thecontacts 18 vertically aligned so that they positively interconnect. It can also be seen that theextensions 20 provide protection for the part of thecontact 18 which extends beyond thefront face 16 of the housing before the connectors are interconnected. It also provides guidance during the interconnection and provides protection by completely surrounding thecontacts 18 after interconnection. The staggering of the openings, and particularly the thickness of theextensions 20, diminish crosstalking of onecontact 18 with respect to another after interconnection or during the interconnecting. Since thecontacts 18 themselves are very thin and they are separated from one another by the thickness of thevertical member 22 of theforward extension 20, a very high density ofcontacts 18 can be obtained.

Aflat plate 36 extends at right angles from theback face 14 of the housing between the first and second row ofopenings 12. This rearward extending thinflat plate 36 of plastic can be formed during the formation of the housing itself. It provides a strain relief for the wires which are terminated in thecontacts 18 inserted in thehousing 10. These wires can be clamped at the outer end of theplate 36 thereby moving the strain point from theopening 12 at theback face 14 of thehousing 10 to the clamping point. By use of this arrangement, coaxial wire can also be utilized. The clamp (not shown) can serve as an electrical ground connection to which the outer conductor of the coaxial wire is terminated. This common ground for the coaxial wire can be terminated by a wire which leads to one of thecontacts 18 in thehousing 10 and thereby the outer conductor signal can be passed through the connector when properly interconnected. The side edges of thestrain relief plate 36 have grooves 38 therein such that the connector can be guided into connection with a mating piece which has corresponding flanges thereon which fit the grooves. In the situation where a large number ofcontacts 18 are to be interconnected, the forces may be rather large. Accordingly, a screw latch mechanism can be utilized to overcome the large forces and give a smooth interconnection. The details can be obtained from U. S. Pat. No. 3,209,302, issued Sept. 28, 1965. Referring to FIG. 1, theelongated bolt 40 has a threadedportion 42 thereon which is screwed through the threadedportion 44 of acentral opening 46 in the connector. Once thebolt 40 is screwed through this threadedportion 44, it will come to rest with thehead 48 against the top of the bolt hole opening. The threadedportion 42 of thebolt 40 will extend forward of the housing and when interconnection is to be made between a mating connector, thethreads 42 will pick up on the threadedportion 44 in the central opening of the mating connector when the bolt is turned, thereby providing the force needed to make the connection with a smooth even force.

To prevent the possibility of shorting between contact terminals at theopenings 12 in theback surface 14 of thehousing 10, a pair ofseparator elements 46, made of insulative material such as plastic, are provided. Theseelements 46 have aflat outer surface and are made to fit into the area defined by theback surface 14 of the housing, the side guides and the outer end of the thinflat extensions 36. Theseinsulator elements 46 not only prevent shorting betweencontacts 18, but provide a protective housing for the connector and a readily available handling area for inserting and removing the connector from its mating connector.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly adapted for connection to an identical connector assembly comprising:

an insulator housing having a plurality of openings extending from a back face to a front face of said housing, said openings are located symmetrical about a vertical and horizontal axis passing through the middle of the front face of the housing, adjacent openings being staggered about a line parallel to the horizontal axis;

a plurality of extensions extending forward from the front face of said insulator housing, each extension having a vertical member and two horizontal members extending laterally in opposite directions from opposite sides of said vertical members, one at either end thereof, said extensions in the second and fourth quadrants have saidvertical members located between alternate openings and have said horizontal members extending in common lateral directions and said extensions in the first and third quadrants have said vertical members located between opposite alternate openings and have said horizontal members extending in opposite lateral directions to said vertical members and horizontal members in said second and fourth quadrants; and

a plurality of contact members, each located within one of said openings and extending forward of said openings coextensive with said extensions, said extensions when interleaved with extensions of said identical interconnector assembly act as guide means and form a complete enclosure for each of said contact members.

2. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly according toclaim 1, wherein said contact member is a tuning fork contact adapted to receive a tine of an identical tuning fork contact between the tines thereof to give good wiping action and three-point contact.

3. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said connector assembly and said identical connector assembly, when interconnected, have upward staggered openings overlapping downward staggered openings so that said tuning fork contact members, located in said openings, can interconnect tine between tines.

4. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein a stud is provided extending from one of the side walls of said opening in said housing and adapted to fit between tines of said tuning fork contact during insertion and provide a stop for the tuning fork contact limiting the forward position thereof.

5. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said openings within said housing have a narrowed portion abruptly followed by a wider portion thereby forming a pair of flat forwardly facing surfaces, said tuning fork contact having a pair of shoulders at the back portion thereof abutting said forward facing flat surfaces to position said tuning fork contact within the opening and provide a stop to rearward movement of the contact back through the opening.

6. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein the housing contains a plurality of cavities adjacent one of the walls of each of said openings, each of said cavities being sufficiently deep to leave a flexible beam of insulator housing material at the bottom thereof detached at one end so that said beam of housing material bends to provide room for insertion of said tuning fork contact in its respective opening.

7. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said tuning fork contacts are extremely thin and the sides of said vertical members of said extensions form the walls of narrow extension openings such that the tuning fork contacts, when interconnecting, are guided and maintained to provide a positive interconnection thereby allowing a high density of connections per given area.

Claims (7)

1. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly adapted for connection to an identical connector assembly comprising: an insulator housing having a plurality of openings extending from a back face to a front face of said housing, said openings are located symmetrical about a vertical and horizontal axis passing through the middle of The front face of the housing, adjacent openings being staggered about a line parallel to the horizontal axis; a plurality of extensions extending forward from the front face of said insulator housing, each extension having a vertical member and two horizontal members extending laterally in opposite directions from opposite sides of said vertical members, one at either end thereof, said extensions in the second and fourth quadrants have said vertical members located between alternate openings and have said horizontal members extending in common lateral directions and said extensions in the first and third quadrants have said vertical members located between opposite alternate openings and have said horizontal members extending in opposite lateral directions to said vertical members and horizontal members in said second and fourth quadrants; and a plurality of contact members, each located within one of said openings and extending forward of said openings coextensive with said extensions, said extensions when interleaved with extensions of said identical interconnector assembly act as guide means and form a complete enclosure for each of said contact members.

2. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein said contact member is a tuning fork contact adapted to receive a tine of an identical tuning fork contact between the tines thereof to give good wiping action and three-point contact.

3. A multi-contact electrical connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said connector assembly and said identical connector assembly, when interconnected, have upward staggered openings overlapping downward staggered openings so that said tuning fork contact members, located in said openings, can interconnect tine between tines.

4. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein a stud is provided extending from one of the side walls of said opening in said housing and adapted to fit between the tines of said tuning fork contact during insertion and provide a stop for the tuning fork contact limiting the forward position thereof.

5. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said openings within said housing have a narrowed portion abruptly followed by a wider portion thereby forming a pair of flat forwardly facing surfaces, said tuning fork contact having a pair of shoulders at the back portion thereof abutting said forward facing flat surfaces to position said tuning fork contact within the opening and provide a stop to rearward movement of the contact back through the opening.

6. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein the housing contains a plurality of cavities adjacent one of the walls of each of said openings, each of said cavities being sufficiently deep to leave a flexible beam of insulator housing material at the bottom thereof detached at one end so that said beam of housing material bends to provide room for insertion of said tuning fork contact in its respective opening.

7. A multi-contact connector assembly according to claim 2, wherein said tuning fork contacts are extremely thin and the sides of said vertical members of said extensions form the walls of narrow extension openings such that the tuning fork contacts, when interconnecting, are guided and maintained to provide a positive interconnection thereby allowing a high density of connections per given area.

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