Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6210205
-
Patent Number
6,210,205
-
Date Filed
Friday, August 13, 199925 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, April 3, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 405
- 439 404
- 439 417
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A carrier for terminating conductors of conductive wires to insulation displacement sections of terminals molded in a housing of a connector by assembling said carrier carrying cables therein to a terminating face of said housing, comprises an elongate base defining upper, lower, front and rear faces. An array of mounting channels extends between said front and rear faces. An array of slits is defined in said bottom face and each communicates a corresponding channel. During termination between the conductors and the insulation displacement sections, each insulation displacement section is supportably guided within the slit before the insulation displacement sections engage with the cables thereby facilitating reliable termination therebetween.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTOR
The present invention relates to a spacer, and more particularly to a spacer for use with an IDC connector for ensuring termination between conductors of cables and insulation displacement section of terminals.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Conventionally, terminals are assembled to passageways defined in a housing through interferential fit therebetween. In order to securely assemble the terminal to the corresponding passageway, a body portion of the terminal is formed with barbs which anchor to walls of the passageway. In the very beginning, the pitch between two adjacent terminals provides enough room which effectively prevent a short circuit therebetween. For example, the width of the terminal is about 0.4 mm and the height of the barbs formed thereon is 0.1 mm. If the pitch is 1.27 mm, then the spacing between sides of the terminals equals to 1.27−0.2−0.2=0.87 (mm) [0.2 is a half of the width of the terminal], while the spacing measured from two adjacent barbs equal to 0.87−0.1−0.1=0.67 (mm). The terminals can be assembled to the corresponding passageways through interferential fit and the arrangement can pass the Direct Withstanding Voltage Test. However, the barbs or the likes formed on the body portion of the terminal will increase the insertion force. In addition, when the pitch reduces to 0.8 mm (very high density [VHD] connectors), then the spacing between two adjacent terminals equals to 0.8−0.2−0.2=0.4 (mm). In this case, it is impossible to assemble the terminals to the corresponding passageways through interferential fit because the spacing between two adjacent barbs equals to 0.4−0.1−0.1=0.2 (mm). The arrangement can not pass the Direct Withstanding Voltage Test because short circuit between two adjacent terminals will occur.
One of the solutions for such VHD connector is by insert molding which features high precision, reliability, and low labor cost. Furthermore, the body portion of the terminal can be formed with dimples to increase the retention within the enclosed housing. However, alignment of each terminal within a mold cavity is a problem which complicates the molding process as well as the mold configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,805 discloses a plurality of channels (
138
) formed adjacent to the insulation displacement sections (
32
,
34
). The conductive wires (
24
) are seated in the channels (
138
) after termination. However, during termination the insulation displacement sections (
32
,
34
) are not well supported and vulnerable to fall down when excessive forces are experienced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,896 issued May 16, 2002 assigned to the same assignee, entitled to “Method For Terminating Connector” describes a spacer used to terminate conductors to IDC sections of terminals. The specification is enclosed for reference. The disclosed spacer includes a base having a plurality of retaining slots for retaining conductive wires therein for facilitating reliable termination. Even each insulation displacement section is well supported, the retaining force provided by the open slot is still not enough during termination. If the conductive wires are not securely retained, termination thereof will displace the conductive wire.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of this invention is to provide a spacer for terminations wherein conductors of wires are securely arranged in the spacer and during the terminations, insulation displacement section of terminals are well supportably guided thereby preventing the insulation displacement section from falling down.
In order to achieve the objective set forth, a carrier for terminating conductors of conductive wires to insulation displacement sections of terminals molded in a housing of a connector by assembling said carrier carrying conductive wires therein to a terminating face of said housing, comprises an elongate base defining upper, lower, front and rear faces. An array of channels extends between the front and rear faces. An array of slits is defined in the lower face in a direction traverse to the channels and each communicates a corresponding channel. An array of retaining slots defined in the lower face and each retaining slot is in alignment with a corresponding one of the channels. During termination between the conductors and the insulation displacement sections, each insulation displacement section is securely supported within the corresponding slit before the insulation displacement sections engage with the cables thereby facilitating reliable termination therebetween.
These and additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the appended drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a perspective view of a spacer in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2
is an exploded view of a connector core and two spacers; and
FIG. 3
is similar to
FIG. 1
viewed from a reverse direction and with conductive wires assembled therein;
FIG. 4
is an assembled view of
FIG. 3
;
FIG. 5
is a sketch view showing terminating status between the spacer and insulation displacement sections.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a spacer
1
in accordance with the present invention comprises an elongate base
10
defining an upper face
10
a
, a lower face
10
b
opposite the upper face
10
a
, and front and rear faces
10
c
and
10
d
. An array of channels
11
is defined in the front face
10
a
. In the instant embodiment, the channels
11
extend about two third of the width of the base
10
. An array of retaining slots
12
is defined in the lower face
10
b
and each in alignment with the corresponding channel
11
. The inner diameter of the channel
11
is dimensioned such that a conductive wire
30
can snugly insert therein. However, the width of a front end
12
a
of the retaining slot
12
is slightly smaller than an outer diameter of the conductive wires
30
, therefore when the conductive wire
30
extends through the channel
11
, a free end of the conductive wire
30
can be securely retained by the front end
12
a
of the retaining slot
12
. As a result, the conductive wire
30
will not be displaced during terminations. An array of slits
13
is defined in the lower face
10
b
and each communicates a corresponding channel
11
. In the instant embodiment, there are two rows of slits
13
and which are offset from each other. By this arrangement, two adjacent channels
11
are corresponding respective slits
13
in different rows.
The base
10
further forms a pair of guiding posts
14
and a pair of latches
15
for engaging with holes
25
a
and hooks
25
b
of a connector core
25
of a connector. Description of function of the guiding posts
14
and the latches
15
are detailedly described in the co-pending application and no description is given therefor. By the provision of the guiding posts
14
and the latches
15
, the spacer
1
can be assembled to the connector core
25
. The connector core
25
has a terminating face
26
on which an array of insulation displacement section
27
extending therethrough. Please refer to the co-pending application for details.
Referring to
FIGS. 3 and 4
, the conductive wires
30
are firstly assembled to the channels
11
, then the spacer
1
is assembled to the termination face
26
whereby the conductors
30
b
of the conductive wires
30
are terminated with the insulation displacement section
27
of the connector core
25
.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, when the latch
15
of the spacer
1
is located at the first position of the hook
25
b
, a top portion
27
a
of the insulation displacement section
27
extends into the corresponding slit
13
and is in contact with the insulation layer
30
a
of the conductive wire
30
. When the spacer
1
is moved further downward, the latch
15
is moved from the first position to the second position such that the insulation displacement section
27
pieces through the insulation layer
30
a
and makes an electrical contact with the conductor
30
b.
The advantage of the instant application is since the conductive wires
30
are completely received in the channels
11
, termination can be effectively performed. This is also beneficial for later over-molding process. In addition, the insulation displacement sections
27
are supportably received in the corresponding slits
13
, during the terminating process, the insulation displacement sections
27
are well protected without any deformation thereby benefiting reliable termination between the insulation displacement sections
27
and the conductive wires
30
.
While the present invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various 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.
Claims
- 1. A spacer for terminating conductors of conductive wires to insulation displacement sections of terminals positioned in a housing of a connector by assembling said spacer to a termination face of said housing, said spacer comprising:an elongate base defining upper, lower, front and rear faces; an array of channels defined in said front face; an array of slits defined in said lower face and each communicating to a corresponding channel; and an array of retaining slots defined in said lower face and each retaining slot being in alignment with a corresponding one of said channels; wherein said channels extend about two thirds of a width of said base; wherein an inner diameter of each said channel is dimensioned to snugly fit the respective conductive wire therein; wherein a width of a front end of each retaining slot is smaller than the outer diameter of the respective conductive wire.
US Referenced Citations (3)