Claims
- 1. A method of providing an electrical contact on a workpiece, said method comprising:
providing a workpiece with a contact opening; aligning an elongated member with the contact opening of the workpiece; severing a portion from said elongated member to define a contact insert; and transferring said contact insert to the contact opening of the workpiece for securement thereto to provide an electrical contact on the workpiece.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least part of said contact insert is deformable and which further comprises securing the contact insert to the workpiece by deformation against the workpiece.
- 3. The method of claim 1, which further comprises exerting a force to cause said severing and transferring steps to occur in concert.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing step occurs while the workpiece and contact insert are aligned within the die.
- 5. The method of claim 1, which further comprises configuring the elongated member as a metal tape having a head portion, a body portion associated with said head portion, and at least one shoulder defined between said head portion and said body portion so that said contact insert includes said head portion, body portion, and shoulder portion after said elongated member is severed.
- 6. The method of claim 5, which further comprises providing said body portion of deformable material to facilitate securing of the contact insert to the workpiece.
- 7. The method of claim 5, wherein said transferring step further comprises inserting only the body portion of the contact insert into the contact opening defined in the workpiece.
- 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said positioning step further comprises abutting said head portion of said contact insert against the workpiece to position the contact insert in the contact opening.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing step is continuous.
- 10. The method of claim 1, which further comprises configuring said elongated member to have a substantially T-shaped transverse cross-section.
- 11. The method of claim 1, which further comprises providing additional workpieces with contact openings and repeating the aligning, severing, and transferring steps in a continuous manner to provide multiple electrical contacts on one or more workpieces.
- 12. A system for providing an electrical contact on a workpiece, said system comprising:
an elongated member for forming a contact insert; a workpiece in association with said elongated member and having a contact opening; and a cutoff press for cutting off a portion of the elongated member to form the contact insert and for seating the contact insert in the contact opening defined in the workpiece.
- 13. The system of claim 12, which further comprises a pressure pad for holding the workpiece in position during seating of the contact insert in the contact opening in the workpiece and the cutoff punch and pressure pad are part of a punch press.
- 14. The system of claim 13, which further comprises a staking punch retained in a second punch retainer for deforming an end of the contact insert after the insert is inserted into the workpiece to secure the contact insert to the workpiece to define the electrical contact.
- 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the system further comprises a feed system for continuously feeding the elongated member into the punch press and the punch press includes a hole for guiding the contact insert into the contact opening.
- 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the punch press includes a punch retainer for retaining the cutoff punch and the pressure pad.
- 17. The system of claim 14, wherein the elongated tape and cutoff punch are positioned over the workpiece and the staking punch is positioned under the workpiece.
- 18. An electrical contact system comprising:
a contact insert having at least two substantially planar side walls that define the width or length of the electrical contact; and a workpiece having an opening configured and dimensioned for receiving at least a portion of the contact insert; wherein said contact insert is secured to the workpiece to define the electrical contact thereon.
- 19. The electrical contact system of claim 18, wherein said contact insert has a body portion, at least four side walls, and is formed by severing a first portion of an elongated member to form the at least two substantially planar side walls.
- 20. The electrical contact system of claim 19, wherein said body portion is rectangular.
- 21. The electrical contact system of claim 19, wherein the opening in the workpiece is configured and dimensioned for matingly receiving at least a portion of the body portion of the contact insert.
- 22. The electrical contact system of claim 19, wherein said contact insert further comprises a head portion and at least one shoulder defined between said body portion and the head portion for abutting against a surface of the workpiece.
- 23. The electrical contact system of claim 22, wherein said head portion is rectangular and said body portion is rectangular.
- 24. The electrical contact system of claim 18, wherein said contact insert has a body portion at least part of which is deformable to secure the contact insert to the opening.
- 25. An electrical contact forming member comprising an elongated tape having a head portion connected to a deformable base portion, wherein said elongated tape is severable along the length of the tape to form at least one contact insert for insertion into an opening defined in a workpiece to provide an electrical contact thereon.
- 26. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein the head portion is wider or longer than said base portion.
- 27. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein said base portion is welded to said head portion.
- 28. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein said head portion further includes an inlay provided on an exterior surface of the head portion.
- 29. The electrical contact forming member of claim 28, wherein said head portion further comprises a recess defined longitudinally along the exterior surface thereof and said inlay is provided in said recess.
- 30. The electrical contact forming member of claim 28, wherein said inlay is axially aligned along the exterior surface of the head portion.
- 31. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein said head portion and body portion are made of a first material.
- 32. The electrical contact forming member of claim 31, wherein the first material is silver, copper, gold, palladium, platinum, or alloys thereof.
- 33. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein said head portion is deformable.
- 34. The electrical contact forming member of claim 25, wherein said head portion is made of a material that is different from that of the base portion.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of application No. 08/896,327, filed Jul. 17, 1997.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08896327 |
Jul 1997 |
US |
Child |
09237892 |
Jan 1999 |
US |