Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6196884
-
Patent Number
6,196,884
-
Date Filed
Thursday, June 4, 199826 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, March 6, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Nguyen; Khiem
- Webb; Brian S.
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 843
- 439 847
- 439 852
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A female metal terminal includes a terminal body having a contact portion that contacts a tab of a male metal terminal, a pressing member having a spring member that presses the tab against the contact portion, the spring member being mounted on the terminal body, and a movement limitation portion that limits the movement of the tab against the bias of said spring member. A pair of front and rear movement limitation portions may be formed on an upper wall of the terminal body in such a manner that a contact portion of the spring member is disposed between the two movement limitation portions. The tab is inserted into a space between the spring member and the contact portion, and in this condition, even when a tilting force acts on the tab in an upward or a downward direction, the movement of the tab against the bias of the spring member is prevented by the movement limitation portion(s), so that the proper condition of contact between the tab and the contact portion is maintained.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a female metal terminal.
One female metal terminal is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 58-87789. As shown in
FIG. 1
, this metal terminal comprises a terminal body
1
having a fitting portion
3
of a square tubular shape extending from a barrel portion
2
for compressively holding a wire (not shown), and a spring piece
4
which is separate from the terminal body
1
, and is mounted on the fitting portion
3
. A tab
5
of a male metal terminal advances along a lower surface (inner surface) of an upper wall
3
A of the fitting portion
3
, and is resiliently urged upwardly by the spring piece
4
, so that the tab
5
is held in surface-to-surface contact with the upper wall
3
A with a predetermined contact pressure.
In the above conventional female metal terminal, the spring piece
4
has a wavy or curved shape, and spaces are formed beneath the tab
5
at the front and rear sides of a peak portion
4
A of the spring piece
4
held in contact with the tab
5
(see FIG.
2
).
Therefore, when an external force acts on the tab
5
in an upward or a downward direction, the tab
5
is tilted about the peak portion
4
A in a seesaw-like manner, so that there is a possibility that the condition of contact between the tab
5
and the upper wall
3
A becomes unstable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a female metal terminal in which the reliability of contact between the female metal terminal and a tab of a male metal terminal is enhanced.
According to the present invention, there is provided a female metal terminal comprising a terminal body having a contact portion for contact with a tab of a male metal terminal, and a spring member for pressing the tab against the contact portion, the spring member being mounted on the terminal body, wherein the terminal body has a movement limitation portion for limiting the movement of the tab against the bias of the spring member. Therefore, even if the tab tries to move against the bias of the spring member, this movement is limited by the movement limitation portion. Therefore, the proper condition of contact between the tab and the contact portion is maintained.
Further, the movement limitation portion is provided at the tab-inserting side disposed forwardly of the spring member. Therefore, when the tab advances from an angle oblique to a longitudinal axis of the female metal terminal, the tab contacts the movement limitation portion before contacting the spring member, so that the tab is prevented from advancing. Namely, the deformation of the spring member due to the oblique striking of the tab against it is prevented.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional construction;
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of the conventional construction;
FIG. 3
is a perspective view of a first embodiment;
FIG. 4
is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment;
FIG. 5
is a cross-sectional view of a terminal body of a second embodiment;
FIG. 6
is a plan view of a pressing member of the second embodiment;
FIG. 7
is a cross-sectional view of the pressing member of the second embodiment;
FIG. 8
is a cross-sectional view showing a condition in which the terminal body and the pressing member of the second embodiment are combined together; and
FIG. 9
is a front-elevational view showing the condition in which the terminal body and the pressing member of the second embodiment are combined together.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First Embodiment
A first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
FIGS. 3 and 4
. A female metal terminal
10
of this embodiment comprises a terminal body
11
and a spring member
30
fixedly secured to the terminal body
11
.
The terminal body
11
is formed by bending a metal sheet having a relatively large thickness (for example, 2 mm). A pair of opposite side walls
14
extend upwardly respectively from opposite (right and left) side edges of a lower wall
13
of the terminal body
11
at a longitudinally-central portion of the terminal body
11
. An upper wall
15
extends inwardly from an upper edge of one side wall
14
, and its distal end edge is held against an upper end of the other side wall
14
thereby forming a tubular fitting portion
12
of a generally square cross-section. A pair of clamping portions
16
A extend upwardly respectively from the opposite (right and left) side edges of the lower wall
13
at a rear end portion of the terminal body
11
to form a barrel portion
16
for compressively holding a wire (not shown). A major portion of the lower wall
13
of the fitting portion
12
, except its peripheral edge portion, is slightly raised to form a contact portion
17
. This contact portion
17
cooperates with the spring member
30
to resiliently hold a tab
35
of a male metal terminal therebetween.
A pair of upstanding portions
18
are formed respectively at the opposite side edges of the lower wall
13
at the front end portion of the terminal body
11
, and extension portions extend inwardly respectively from upper ends of the two upstanding portions
18
, and are butted together at their distal ends to thereby form a front-side movement limitation portion
19
F. The vertical distance between a lower surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F and an upper surface of the contact portion
17
is equal to or slightly larger than the thickness of the tab
35
.
The spring member
30
is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F. The spring member
30
is formed by bending a metal sheet having a thickness (for example, 0.3 mm) smaller than that of the metal sheet constituting the terminal body
11
. The spring member
30
extends in the forward-rearward direction, and is curved to bulge downwardly as a whole. A mounting portion
31
of a rectangular shape, which is greater in width than the spring member
30
, is formed integrally at the front end of the spring member
30
. This mounting portion
31
is fixedly secured by rivets
32
to the upper surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F, thus fixedly mounting the spring member
30
to the terminal body
11
. In this fixedly-mounted condition, the height or level of a lowermost peak portion
33
(for contact with the tab
35
) of the spring member
30
is slightly lower than the lower surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F, and the distance between the peak portion
33
and the upper surface of the contact portion
17
is slightly smaller than the thickness of the tab
35
. A rear end portion of the spring member
30
is held in contact with the lower surface of the upper wall
15
of the fitting portion
12
or faces this lower surface in closely spaced relation thereto. Namely, when the tab
35
is inserted into the space between the contact portion
17
and the spring member
30
, the spring member
30
is resiliently flexed, with its rear end portion pressed against the upper wall
15
.
Part of the front end portion of the upper wall
15
is bent downwardly to form an excessive flexure prevention portion
20
. This excessive flexure prevention portion
20
is disposed substantially just above the peak portion
33
of the spring member
30
, and the lower end of the excessive flexure prevention portion
20
is disposed at a level above the lower surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F. Namely, when the tab
35
is properly inserted, the spring member
30
will not contact the excessive flexure prevention portion
20
. However, when the flexure of the spring member
30
exceeds a proper range, the peak portion
33
contacts the excessive flexure prevention portion
20
, and therefore is prevented from being further flexed, thus preventing the excessive flexure of the spring member
30
beyond its resiliency limit.
An extension portion extends downwardly from the rear edge of the upper wall
15
to form a rear-side movement limitation portion
19
R. The height or level of a lower end of this rear-side movement limitation portion
19
R is the same as that of the lower surface of the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F.
Next, the operation and effects of this embodiment will be described.
When the tab
35
is inserted into the fitting portion
12
, the spring member
30
contacts the upper surface of the tab
35
, and is resiliently flexed, and the tab
35
is pressed against the contact portion
17
by a resilient restoring force of the spring member
30
, so that the tab
35
is held in surface-to-surface contact with the contact portion
17
. In this condition, the upper surface of the tab
35
is held in contact with the front-side and rear-side movement limitation portions
19
F and
19
R, or faces these movement limitation portions in closed spaced relation thereto.
Therefore, even when a tilting force acts on the tab
35
in an upward or a downward direction, the displacement (tilting movement) of the tab
35
is positively limited or prevented by the engagement of the tab
35
with the front-side movement prevention portion
19
F or the rear-side movement limitation portion
19
R. Therefore, the proper condition of contact between the tab
35
and the contact portion
17
is maintained.
When the tab
35
is to be obliquely upwardly inserted into the fitting portion
12
, the tab
35
abuts against the front-side movement limitation portion
19
F before the tab
35
contacts the spring member
30
, and therefore is prevented from further advancing. Namely, the tab
35
is prevented from striking against the spring member
30
from the obliquely lower side to push the same up, and therefore the deformation of the spring member
30
due to this pushing-up is prevented. The front-side movement limitation portion
19
F is formed integrally with the terminal body
11
having a relatively large wall thickness, and has high rigidity, and therefore even if the tab
35
strikes against this movement limitation portion
19
F from the front side, this portion
19
F will not be deformed.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above with reference to the drawing, and for example, the following embodiments fall within the scope of the present invention, and various modifications other than the following can also be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the above embodiment, although the movement limitation portions are disposed respectively on the front and rear sides of that portion of the spring member for contact with the tab, the movement limitation portion may be provided only at the front side (that is, the tab-inserting side) or the rear side.
In the above embodiment, although the front-side movement limitation portion is provided at other portion than the fitting portion, it may be provided at the fitting portion. In this case, the front-side movement limitation portion may be formed by an extension portion extending from the front edge of the upper wall, or by stamping the side walls and by bending these stamped-out portions inwardly, or by forming extension portions extending inwardly from the front edges of the side walls.
In the above embodiment, although the rear-side movement limitation portion is provided at the upper wall of the fitting portion, it may be formed by stamping the side walls and by bending these stamped-out portions inwardly, or by forming extension portions extending inwardly from the rear edges of the side walls. The rear-side movement limitation portion may be formed at other portion than the fitting portion.
In the above embodiment, although the spring member is fixedly secured to the terminal body by the rivets, the spring member may be fixedly secured by other means such as welding, and the spring member may be detachably mounted on the terminal body through retaining and fitting connection so that it can be easily removed from the terminal body.
Second Embodiment
A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
FIGS. 5
to
9
. A female metal terminal of this embodiment comprises a terminal body
60
and a pressing member
70
which are separate from each other, and are combined together.
The terminal body
60
is formed by bending a metal sheet having a relatively large thickness (for example, 2 mm), and this terminal body
60
includes a tubular fitting portion
61
of a rectangular cross-section defined by a front half portion thereof, and a barrel portion
62
for compressively holding a wire (not shown) provided at a rear half portion thereof. A major portion of a lower wall
61
L of the fitting portion
61
except a peripheral edge portion thereof is raised to provide a contact portion
63
. This contact portion
63
cooperates with a spring piece portion
73
(described later) to resiliently hold a tab T of a male metal terminal therebetween. Retaining holes
64
are formed respectively through opposite (right and left) side walls
61
S of the fitting portion
61
, and resilient retaining piece portions
76
(described later) of the pressing member
70
are adapted to be retained in the retaining holes
64
, respectively. Shallow recesses
65
are formed respectively in opposite (right and left) side edges of a front open end of the fitting portion
61
, and retaining pawls
77
of the pressing member
70
are adapted to be retained in the recesses
65
, respectively. A lance hole
66
is formed through an upper wall
61
U of the fitting portion
61
, and when the terminal body
60
is inserted into a cavity in a female connector housing (not shown), a lance (not shown) is engaged in the lance hole
66
, thereby holding the female metal terminal within the cavity.
The pressing member
70
is formed by bending a metal sheet having a thickness (for example, 0.3 mm) smaller than that of the metal sheet constituting the terminal body
60
. The pressing member
70
has a frame-like configuration having an upper wall
71
and opposite (right and left) side walls
72
, and the pressing member
70
is adapted to be fitted into the fitting portion
61
. The width of the upper wall
72
and the height of the side walls
72
are substantially equal to the width and height of the interior of the fitting portion
61
, respectively, and therefore when the pressing member
70
is received within the fitting portion
61
, the pressing member
70
will not move upward, downward, right and left.
A major portion of the upper wall
71
except a peripheral edge portion thereof is stamped out, and is depressed, and is curved in such a manner that its central portion intermediate its front and rear ends bulges downwardly, thereby forming the spring piece portion
73
. This spring piece portion
73
projects rearwardly in a cantilever manner within the pressing member
70
, and can be resiliently flexed. The spring piece portion
73
can contact the tab T at its lowermost contact portion
73
A.
An extension portion, extending from the front end of the upper wall
71
, is folded back to be disposed beneath the upper wall
71
in spaced relation thereto, thereby forming a front-side movement limitation portion
74
F. This front-side movement limitation portion
74
F extends straight rearwardly, and is disposed at a level slightly above the contact portion
73
A of the spring piece portion
73
. A pair of ear portions
74
A are formed on and project from opposite (right and left) side edges of the front-side movement limitation portion
74
F, respectively. Upper portions of the right and left side walls
72
are stamped out, and are bent inwardly to form a pair of reinforcement portions
75
. The reinforcement portions
75
can engage the upper sides of the ear portions
74
A, respectively, so as to positively limit the upward displacement of the front-side movement limitation portion
74
F.
An extension portion, extending from the rear end of the upper wall
71
, is folded back to be disposed beneath the upper wall
71
in spaced relation thereto, thereby forming a rear-side movement limitation portion
74
R. This rear-side movement limitation portion
74
R extends straight forwardly, and is disposed at the same level as that of the front-side movement limitation portion
74
F.
The pair of right and left resilient retaining piece portions
76
are formed by stamping at those portions of the opposite side walls
72
corresponding respectively to the retaining holes
64
. Each of the resilient retaining piece portions
76
projects obliquely outwardly forwardly in a cantilever manner, and can be resiliently flexed inwardly. The pair of retaining pawls
77
extend perpendicularly from the front edges of the opposite side walls
72
, respectively, and can be engaged in the recesses
65
, respectively.
Next, the operation and effects of this embodiment will be described.
For assembling the female metal terminal, the pressing member
70
is fitted into the fitting portion
61
of the terminal body
60
from the front side thereof. During the fitting of the pressing member
70
, the resilient retaining piece portions
76
are brought into contact with the inner surface of the fitting portion
61
, and are resiliently flexed inwardly. Then, when the pressing member
70
reaches a proper fitting position, the resilient retaining piece portions
76
are outwardly restored because of their resiliency, and are retainingly engaged respectively in the retaining holes
64
, thereby preventing the withdrawal of the pressing member
70
. At the same time, the retaining pawls
77
of the pressing member
70
are held respectively against the recessed portions
65
of the terminal body
60
to prevent the further insertion of the pressing member
70
. In this manner, the pressing member
70
is mounted on the terminal body
60
against movement in the inserting and withdrawing directions.
In this mounted condition, the distance between the contact portion
63
and each of the front-side movement limitation portion
74
F and the rear-side movement limitation portion
74
R is equal to or slightly larger than the thickness of the tab T. The tab T is inserted into the fitting portion
61
, and is resiliently held between the contact portion
63
and the spring piece portion
73
, and in this condition the lower surface of the tab T is held in surface-to-surface contact with the upper surface of the contact portion
63
whereas the upper surface of the tab T contacts the front-side and rear-side movement limitation portions
74
F and
74
R, or faces these movement limitation portions
74
F and
74
R in closely spaced relation thereto.
Therefore, even when a tilting force acts on the tab T in an upward or a downward direction, the displacement (tilting movement) of the tab T against the bias of the spring piece portion
73
is positively limited or prevented by the engagement of the tab T with the front-side movement prevention portion
74
F or the rear-side movement limitation portion
74
R. Therefore, the proper condition of contact between the tab T and the contact portion
63
is maintained.
When the tab T is to be upwardly inserted into the fitting portion
61
at an angle oblique to a longitudinal axis of the female connector, the tab T abuts against the front edge of the front-side movement limitation portion
74
F before the tab T contacts the spring piece portion
73
, and therefore is prevented from further advancing. Namely, the tab T is prevented from striking against the spring piece portion
73
obliquely from the lower side to push the same up, and therefore the deformation of the spring piece portion
73
due to this pushing-up is prevented. The front-side movement limitation portion
74
F is so reinforced by the reinforcement portions
75
that it can not be easily deformed, and therefore even if the tab T strikes against this movement limitation portion
74
F from the front side, this portion
74
F will not be deformed.
In this embodiment, the pressing member
70
can be mounted on the terminal body
60
merely by fitting the former into the latter, and therefore the efficiency of the assembling operation is excellent.
The front-side and rear-side movement limitation portions
74
F and
74
R are disposed respectively on the front and rear sides of the spring piece portion
73
(that is, the spring piece portion
73
is disposed between the two movement limitation portions), and the two movement limitation prevention portions
74
F and
74
R and the spring piece portion
73
are formed on the common pressing member
70
, and they are mounted on the terminal body
60
at a time, and therefore the presence of the movement prevention portions
74
F and
74
R will not affect the mounting of the spring piece portion
73
, and in this respect, also, the efficiency of the assembling operation is excellent.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above with reference to the drawing, and for example, the following embodiments fall within the scope of the present invention, and various modifications other than the following can also be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the above embodiment, although the movement limitation portions are disposed respectively on the front and rear sides of that portion of the spring piece portion for contact with the tab, the movement limitation portion may be provided only at the front side (that is, the tab-inserting side) or the rear side.
In the above embodiment, although the movement limitation portions extend respectively from the front and rear end of the upper wall of the pressing member, the movement limitation portions may be formed by stamping the side walls and by bending these stamped-out portions inwardly, or by forming extension portions extending inwardly from the front and rear edges of the side walls.
Claims
- 1. A female metal terminal comprising:a terminal body having a contact portion that contacts a tab of a male metal terminal; a pressing device having a spring member with a pressing portion that presses said tab against said contact portion, one end of said spring member being fixed relative to said terminal body; and at least one movement limitation portion that limits movement of said tab against a bias of said spring member.
- 2. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is formed in said terminal body.
- 3. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is provided at least at a tab-inserting side of said terminal body disposed forwardly of the pressing portion of said spring member.
- 4. A female metal terminal comprising:a terminal body having a contact portion that contacts a tab of a male metal terminal; a pressing device having a spring member with a pressing portion that presses said tab against said contact portion, said spring member being mounted on said terminal body; and at least one movement limitation portion that limits movement of said tab against a bias of said spring member, said at least one movement limitation portion being formed in said pressing device.
- 5. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 4, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is provided at least at a tab-inserting side of said pressing device disposed forwardly of the pressing portion of said spring member.
- 6. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein said terminal body comprises a tubular fitting portion having a rectangular cross-section, and a barrel portion for compressively holding a wire, andone wall of said tubular fitting portion is raised, except a peripheral edge portion, to form said contact portion.
- 7. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 6, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is formed in said terminal body.
- 8. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 7, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is provided at least at a tab-inserting side of said terminal body disposed forwardly of the pressing portion of said spring member.
- 9. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 6, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is formed in said pressing device.
- 10. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one movement limitation portion is provided at least at a tab-inserting side of said pressing member disposed forwardly of the pressing portion of said spring member.
- 11. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein one movement limitation portion is formed at a tab-inserting side of said terminal body, and another movement limitation portion is formed at a rear side of said terminal body, both movement limitation portions limiting movement of said tab against said bias of said spring member.
- 12. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vertical distance between the at least one movement limitation portion and the contact portion is equal to or slightly larger than a thickness of the tab of the male terminal.
- 13. A female metal terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring member has a thickness smaller than a thickness of a wall portion of said terminal body.
- 14. A female metal terminal comprising:a terminal body having a contact portion that contacts a tab of a male metal terminal; a pressing device having a spring member with a pressing portion that presses said tab against said contact portion, said spring member being mounted on said terminal body; a first movement limitation portion formed at a tab-inserting side of said terminal body; and a second movement limitation portion formed at a rear side of said terminal body, wherein the first and second movement limitation portions limit movement of said tab against a bias of said spring member.
- 15. The female metal terminal as set forth in claim 14, wherein the first and second movement limitation portions are at substantially a same height relative to the contact portion.
- 16. The female metal terminal as set forth in claim 14, wherein the second movement limitation portion comprises a tab depending from a top wall of said terminal body.
- 17. The female metal terminal as set forth in claim 14, wherein at least one of the first and second movement limitation portions is formed in said terminal body.
- 18. The female metal terminal as set forth in claim 14, wherein at least one of the first and second movement limitation portions is formed in said pressing device.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
9-196125 |
Jul 1997 |
JP |
|
9-196127 |
Jul 1997 |
JP |
|
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
A-58-87789 |
May 1983 |
JP |