The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 21, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 12, 1998
William Vito Pauza, Palmyra, PA (US);
Harold William Kerlin, Elizabethville, PA (US);
The Whitaker Corporation, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
Improved electrical connectors and an improved technique for mounting metal contacts in an electrical connector. Such a technique employs overlapping, staggered arrays of forked electrical contacts in connector channels which engage corresponding blade contacts in a mating connector. The blades are inserted between prongs of the forked contacts. In the preferred embodiment, the electrical connector has an insulating housing having two parallel arrays of linearly aligned, offset, overlapping channels extending inwardly through a front of the housing. Each of the channel arrays extend inwardly through to two arrays of channels at a rear of the first housing. A forked metallic contact having a planar base, a pair of parallel and coplanar prongs at one of the ends separated by a gap, is mounted in each of the front channels such that the prongs from each forked metallic contact is positioned in one of the channels of the rear arrays of channels. A second housing is mated with the first housing. The second housing has an array of linearly aligned electrical contact blades extending out of the second housing. Each blade being positioned between the prongs of one of the forked electrical contacts within a channel of the rear arrays of channels.