Molex Corporation

Minoru Fukushima

Shinsuke Kunishi

Masahiro Enomoto

Mitsuo Fujikura

Toshihiro Niitsu

Masashi Seto

Shinichi Aihara

Kazushige Asakawa

Masaaki Oya

Shinichi Tadokoro

Haruo Hiramoto

Kazuhige Asakawa

Masahiro Henmi

Katsutoshi Toujou

An electrical connector has improved locking characteristics for mating with an opposing complementary connector component. The connector has an insulative housing with a series of walls defining a mating space which receives the complementary connector component. Terminals are arranged in the mating space to interconnect with the complementary connector component. Sidewalls have two distinct inner and outer sections wherein the inner sidewall section are flexible and include an engagement surface for engagement with the complementary connector component.

Electrical connector with reinforced engagement means

An electrical connector is provided for terminating a flat cable. The connector includes a housing mounting a plurality of terminals in a generally parallel array. The housing has opposite sides and a front end, with an opening between the sides for receiving an end of the flat cable in engagement with contact portions of the terminals. A pressure member is rotatably mounted on the housing for movement between a first position allowing insertion of the flat cable into the opening and a second position pressing conductors of the flat cable against the contact portions of the terminals. Overhanging extensions project inwardly from the opposite sides of the housing to prevent release of the flat cable from the connector in the event undesired external forces are applied to the cable which would tend to bias the pressure member toward its first position.

Flat cable connector

An electrical connector is disclosed for connecting a flat cable. The connector includes a dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. The housing has a front end adapted for receiving the flat cable in engagement with the terminals, a rear end and opposite sides. An actuator is pivotally mounted on the housing for pivotal movement between a first position allowing insertion of the flat cable into engagement with the terminals and a second position biasing the cable against the terminals. An independent engagement part is mounted on the housing and includes a pivot about which the actuator is pivotable between said positions.

Electrical connector for flat cable

A connector which is particularly suitable for angled, surface mount connections has improved anti-solder and/or flux wicking characteristics which substantially prevent the contamination of contact portions of the connector terminals. Terminals for the connector are provided which have a housing engagement portion at one end and a bifurcated portion at the other end. The bifurcated end portion includes a contact portion and a solder tail portion which are separated by an irregular intervening space of varying width. The depth and the varying width cooperate to prevent the wicking of molten solder and/or flux to the contact surface of the terminal.

Right-angle board to board connector with anti-wicking characteristics

A zero force electrical connector is adapted for terminating a flat cable. The connector includes a dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. The housing has a first end adapted for receiving the flat cable in engagement with the terminals, a rear end and opposite sides. An actuator is mounted to the housing for movement between a first position allowing free insertion of the cable into engagement with the terminals and a second position biasing the cable against the terminals. Complementary interengaging stops are provided between the housing and the actuator near the rear end of the housing for limiting rotation of the actuator relative to the housing in a first direction. Complementary interengaging latches are provided between the housing and the actuator near the front end of the housing for preventing rotation of the actuator relative to the housing in a second direction opposite the first direction.

Zero insertion force electrical connector for flat cable

An electrical connector includes a housing having a plurality of generally parallel elongated terminal-receiving cavities. An opening is formed in a side wall of the housing intersecting the cavities and communicating therewith. A plurality of elongated terminals are insertable into the cavities. Each terminal includes a latching projection. A terminal retainer is positionable in the opening in a direction transverse to the cavities. The retainer includes a plurality of elongated ribs projecting into the cavities and engaging the elongated terminals. At least certain ends of the elongated ribs include camming surfaces for engaging the latching projections on the terminals and moving the terminals to fully inserted positions in the event that the terminals are in only partially inserted positions.

Electrical connector with terminal retainer

Disclosed is an improvement in an electric connector for connecting two spaced apart parallel printed circuit boards having a plurality of needle-like pin terminals arranged laterally at regular intervals between its upper and lower wafers, the upper and lower extensions of the needle-like pin terminals extend beyond the upper and lower wafers being connected to selected conductors on upper and lower printed circuit boards. According to the present invention the needle-like pin terminals freely pass through the longitudinal pin-receiving openings made in the upper and lower wafers, and metal tie rods are press-fit in opposite longitudinal rod-insertion apertures made at the opposite ends of the upper and lower wafers, and are detachably fixed thereto, thereby constituting a rigid integrity. If it is desired that another couple of printed circuit boards are to be separated a shorter or longer distance, the pin terminals and tie-rods are simply removed from the upper and lower wafers, and the ones of appropriate length for spanning the shorter or longer distance are inserted in the upper and lower wafers.

Electric connector for printed circuit boards

An electric connector female terminal assures steady contact between a male terminal irrespective of the position and angle of insertion of the male terminal. The female terminal comprises a pair of contact beams defining a path completely through the female terminal for accommodating a male terminal. A connecting piece is integrally formed with the contact beams and extending therebetween, the connecting piece being positioned out of the path for accommodating the male terminal and incorporating resilient means for resiliently biasing the contact beams carrying the contact points to a predetermined initial position.

Electric connector terminal

An electrical connector is disclosed with a contact housing for receiving terminal mating sections of a plurality of terminals and a tail housing, separate from the contact housing, for receiving solder tail sections of the terminals. A flexible connecting section is formed between the terminal mating and solder tail sections of each terminal. A protective bar extends from the terminal mating section toward the tail housing. An arm extends from the protective bar which is inserted into a mounting recess formed in the tail housing without contacting any surfaces of the mounting recess under normal conditions.

Electrical connector for connecting printed circuit boards

An electrical contact is disclosed for use in an electrical connector to be surface mounted to a printed circuit board. The contact includes an inverted U-shaped portion defining a pair of depending legs. One of the legs has a foot portion for electrical connection to an appropriate circuit trace on the printed circuit board. A terminal portion is turned upwardly from a distal end of the other leg for termination with an appropriate mating terminal. The contact is in the form of a one-piece metal component. In the preferred embodiment, the terminal portion of the contact is in the form of a terminal pin, with the pin and the legs of the inverted U-shaped portion of the contact all being generally parallel.

Electrical connector and terminal therefor

Disclosed is a board-to-board electric connector using terminals whose width is same in size as the thickness of metal sheet from which terminals are stamped out, thereby permitting reduction of terminal pitch to possible minimum simply by selecting the metal sheet.

Board-to-board electric connector having male and female terminals at

Disclosed is an electrical connector comprising a multi-terminal plug and multi-terminal socket in which each female terminal is composed of a contact section, a solder tail section and intermediate curved joint integrally connected to the contact section and the soldering tail section. The curved joint of each female terminal will be yieldingly bent when an external force is applied to push the male terminal in the female terminal, thereby absorbing the external force and preventing deformation of the solder tail section, and hence peeling-off or cracking of solder at the solder tail. The intermediate curved section will also permit the contact section to float in order to compensate for the misalignment of the contact section relative to its mating pin.

Electrical connector

Disclosed is an improved board-surface mounting type electric connector whose pin terminals are designed to be soldered to a printed circuit pattern by their tail sections. Each tail section is composed of a soldering portion, an intermediate stepwise joint and a non-soldering portion. The soldering portion of the tail section is laid on the printed board, and the non-soldering portion is laid on an isolation wall at a level higher than the printed board, thus leaving space between the printed board and the non-soldering portion available for printing desired circuit patterns. Connector housing may have at least one stopper to abut on the upper surface of each soldering portion for preventing it from rising, thereby keeping each soldering portion stable in position.

Board-surface mounting type electric connector

An electrical connector used for interconnecting one or more conductors on the same or different printed circuit boards comprising two mold members having terminal bodies with each end inserted into the mold members until they protrude from the bottom and with a bent portion between the mold members maintaining a distance greater than the distance required to insert the mold members and terminal bodies into through holes of a printed circuit board. The connector is used in conjunction with a pair of chuck members and a stop member to place the connector mold members in alignment so that the protruding terminal portions can be accurately inserted into through holes of a printed circuit board with the use of automatic robot means.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Minoru Fukushima