Electrical terminal having a receptacle contact section of low insertion force and terminating section therefor

Claim 1

An electrical terminal including a receptacle contact section (3) having a bottom wall (5) and an upper wall (6); a first cantilever spring member (9) extending outwardly from a forward end of said bottom wall (5) and being bent back so as to extend backward into said contact section (3) along the bottom wall (5) at an inclined angle relative to the bottom wall (5), a free end (9a) of the first spring member (9) spaced from said upper wall (b) a distance (h) less than the thickness (t) of a matable contact member (30); a second cantilever spring member (10) being formed from said bottom wall (5) and having a free end (10a) disposed beneath and adjacent the free end (9a) of said first spring member, characterized in that said free ends (9a, 10a) are overlapping with a gap (H) therebetween, and that, in use, only said first spring member (9) is initially engaged by the matable contact member (30) upon insertion of the contact member into the contact section (3) between the upper wall (6) and the first spring member (9), the insertion force at this position thus being low, and upon further insertion of the matable contact member (30) into the contact section (3), there is engagement between the free ends of the spring members and the insertion force gradually increases, engagement and when the contact member is fully inserted into the contact section, high contact pressure is applied to the contact member (30) by the combined spring forces of the spring members (9, 10).