1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector terminal, and more particularly to a terminal having a twisted portion to reduce the space required for accommodating such a terminal.
2. Background of the Invention
It is known to form an electrical connector terminal for a socket connector by stamping and bending in a desired manner to obtain various configurations. For those terminals having an upwardly projecting arm oriented at an angle relative to a general main plane of the base portion of a contact blank, different designs have been proposed as can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,652,329; 6,887,114; 6,929,483; and 6,955,572. These prior designs all exhibit a structural feature that one planar portion of the terminal where the projecting arm is formed is physically connected to another planar portion, usually the base portion of the terminal by a curved section or along a bending line. The two planar portions together with the bending line joining the two portions inevitably increase an overall horizontal dimension of the terminal.
To reduce the above-mentioned horizontal dimension of a terminal, measured in a direction perpendicular to the base portion thereof, while obviating plastic deformation of the projecting arm and/or increase in connection resistance, a design is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,888 by making the curved section angled 180 degrees.
On the other hand, twisting a portion of a terminal in consideration of its force/displacement response during mating with another terminal is well known in this art. For example, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,326 to twist a lower portion of a terminal which is further soldered to a printed circuit board so that a horizontal displacement of the lower soldered portion can be conditioned. Also, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,632 to twist an upper portion of a terminal that then engages from a sideward direction with an inserted card edge.
However, none of the art shows or suggests a terminal which has an upper portion twisted in order to reduce its horizontal dimension.
An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal comprising a twist portion to reduce its overall profile.
To achieve the above object, a terminal for an electrical connector comprises: a base portion; a twist portion projecting from the base portion; and a contact portion continuing the twist portion and angled relative to the twist portion.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
As can be clearly seen in
The base portion 12 may include a tail 124 extending from an lower end 122 for connecting to a circuit board (not shown). In this embodiment, a linking portion 125 is defined between the lower end 122 and the tail 124. The linking portion 125 obliquely and downwardly extends form the lower end. An upper end of the base portion 12 then is where the twist portion 14 extends from upwardly. From the upper end, a positioning member 13 is defined for stably fastening the terminal in a housing 9 not shown), in which the terminal is accommodated. The curved end 162 of the contact portion 16 has an upwardly facing contacting face so that a contacting element or pad of a socket or electronic device can make an electrical connection therewith from above.
Compared with the prior designs, the twist portion 14 enables to reduce the required space along the direction X shown in
While the present invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment, the description of the invention is illustrative and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various of modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiment by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.