Molex Corporation

Kenneth L Kufner

Jack F Funcik

Thomas E Schneider

Joseph C Bennett

Vito A Fusco

Frank P Chmela

Dushan C Deshich

A connector harness assembly machine which includes a wire preparation assembly for cutting and stripping a reel of wire to provide a plurality of unterminated cut and stripped wire leads of various lengths. The cut and stripped wire lead is then transported by means of a wire transport assembly to a plurality of stations comprising a wire termination assembly. The wire termination assembly includes a wire pickup station whereat the cut and stripped wire lead is picked up, an insulation strip test station including an insulation strip sensor to check whether insulation has been stripped from the wire, a crimp station including crimping means for crimping a terminal onto a wire lead, a terminal test station including a terminal sensor to determine whether a terminal has been properly crimped, a wire reject station including means for releasing an improperly prepared wire lead, and an insertion station where a terminated wire lead is inserted into a connector housing.

Connector harness assembly machine

A machine for crimping a plurality of electrical terminals one at a time onto wire leads. The machine includes a press actuable for up and down movement with a die assembly mounted thereon. The die assembly includes a die shoe with a crimp station whereat a terminal is crimped onto wire lead, a punch holder opposite and spaced from the die shoe mounted on the press for movement therewith having punch means mounted over the crimp station to engage a terminal thereat, and a terminal feed assembly for supporting and feeding a strip of terminals one at a time to the crimp station in response to the movement of the press. An insertion station is located on the die shoe adjacent and aligned with the crimp station. A housing feed assembly is on the die shoe for supporting at least one connector housing indexing the housing at the insertion station. An insertion assembly, which includes means for gripping a terminated wire lead, is provided for inserting the terminated wire lead into a terminal receiving recess formed in the housing at the insertion station.

Crimping and wire lead insertion machine

A connector harness assembly machine includes a wire transport assembly which further includes a conveyor mounted on a conveyor track and having a plurality of wire carriers mounted thereon in spaced relationship with respect to one another. Each wire carrier releasably holds a wire lead in a generally horizontal disposition. The wire carrier is pivotable so that the wire carrier can change positions to carry the wire lead in a substantially vertical disposition for insertion into a housing. The wire transport assembly is driven by an intermittent drive. The harness fabrication assembly has wire grippers for gripping and inserting a wire lead held in the wire carrier upwardly into a connector housing held at the insertion station. Associated with the insertion station is a test probe mechanism to check whether a terminated wire lead has been properly inserted into a connector housing and reject means for rejecting a connector harness assembly which has an improperly inserted terminated wire lead. A housing indexing assembly holds a connector at the insertion station and indexes the connector after each insertion. In addition, the housing indexing assembly transports housings from a housing load station spaced from the insertion station to said insertion station. The housings are automatically fed to the housing load station, one at a time, by means of a housing feed assembly.

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Hickory Hills, IL, United States of America

Kenneth L Kufner