The present invention will be discussed hereafter in detail in terms of the embodiments of the present invention. However, any well-known structure or process is not described in detail in order to avoid unnecessary verbosity.
Referring to
The connector 100 further comprises a housing 2 for receiving the contacts 1 and an actuator 3 for urging the contact 1 to open for receiving the FPC and to close for establishing electrical connection with the FPC, and a pair of retaining ears or end clips 4 for retaining the actuator 3 in the housing 2. The housing 2 has an upward opening 21 in the top face thereof and a contact-retaining portion 23 adjacent to the rear face thereof. The contact-retaining portion 23 comprises a plurality of ribs 231 and spines 232 between every two adjacent ribs 231. During assembling, the contacts 1 are forwardly inserted in the opening 21 each to be retained between two adjacent ribs 231 and to have the spine 232 forced through the contact gap 13 to be accommodated between the opposing beams 11 and 12. The actuator 3 is formed into a plate form with an engaging edge comprising a plurality of through holes 31 provided for the free ends 111 of the upper beams 11 to go through during pivotal rotation of the actuator 3, a plurality of cam portions 32 provided by the forming of the through holes 31, and a pair of end shafts 33 respectively extending from longitudinal ends thereof. In assembly, the cam portions 32 are respectively positioned under the free end 111 of the upper beams 11, and the end shafts 33 rotatably rest in recesses 24 defined at the side portions of the housing 2 and further restricted by the retaining ears or clips 4 assembled to the recess 24. Thereby the actuator 3 is rotatably pivoting on the shaft portions 33 between an open position where the upper beams 11 are opened up by the cam portions 32 for receiving the FPC and a closed position where the upper beams 11 close to original position to apply a normal force to the FPC received in the contact gaps 13.
Referring to
Firstly, the contacts 1 are stamped from an elongated metal strip processed by a progressive or multistage punch press. As the strip is advanced progressively or indexed through the press, the strip is punched into a plurality of patterned blanks which are then progressively formed into the initial contact configuration. These initially finished contacts 1 are joined by a web thereby facilitating their subsequent separation and installation.
Subsequently, the strip of initially finished contacts 1 which are still joined by a web is set up, in possibly the same stamping die or in a different fixture, for the re-positioning operation. The re-positioning operation can be achieved by, for example, what is referred to as a tonking process. The tonking process is to drive a pointed punch 6 against a predetermined location on the contact 1 so that the material is displaced in a fashion in which one or more of the contact beams 11, 12 will be moved or re-positioned. The tonking punch direction is generally perpendicular to a plane defined by the two opposing beams 11 and 12, i.e., along a direction perpendicular to the strip from which the contacts 1 are stamped. The best location for the tonking punch can be evaluated by comparing the effects on moving the upper beam 11 and the effects of normal force in the upper beam 11 by tonking varied locations of the contact. Evaluation of the effects of normal force can be determined through a normal force measuring gauge. By way of example, a preferred punch location 141 is at the joint portion 14 adjacent to the upper beam 11, as best shown in
Referring to
Through such a tonking process, a desired minimal gap dimension is achieved, and a higher normal force from the upper beam 11 is achieved due to work hardening of the material by tonking the high stress area of the contact beam 11 or 12. Moreover, in this way, the pre-existing contacts used in a higher profile connector can be used in the lower profile connector after their contact gaps are reduced by the tonking process without re-designing the contacts. Furthermore, the tonking process can be done either prior to a plating process or “post-plating”, which can facilitate production of the contacts.
Another re-positioning method is to coin one or both of the two opposing beams 11, 12. By compressing the beam 11 or 12 at a desired location in the direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the two opposing beams 11 and 12, i.e. the direction is perpendicular to the strip from which the contacts 1 stamped, the material is displaced to reduce the contact gap 13. By way of example, compressing the free end of the upper beam 11 would displace its material towards the lower beam 12 and therefore reduce the contact gap 13. Also, there are still other methods to re-position the beam 11 or 12, for example, to use slide cams in the die to apply sideward force to the contact beam 11 or 12, thus closing the beams 11 and 12 in a fashion similar to that of the tonking process.
It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications in the preferred embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.