Overmolded electrical contact for the manufacture of connectors

Claim 2

An electrical contact adapted for insertion into a connector housing comprising plural electrical contact elements having opposite ends and contact means at said opposite ends for connection to a conductor and other electrical component, said contact means at one end including U-shaped insulation displacing contact portions disposed in a plane and an integrally molded polymeric strip joining said contacts intermediate said ends, and having registration means for locating said contact elements with a second strip or connector component, characterized in that said strip includes spaced conductor positioning elements (41, 42) positioned along said strip adjacent said contact portions (40).

Claim 3

An electrical contact according to claim 1 characterized in that said positioning elements (41, 42) are positioned in alternate relationship along said strip with said contact portions (40) on said one end of said contact elements (15).

Claim 4

An electrical contact according to claim 1 characterized in that said plural contact elements (15) are positioned in rows, and said strip (35) joins the contact elements in each row and the strip of one row is held in position in relationship to the strip of a second row by said registration means (36, 37) for aligning said contact elements in said one row in offset relationship to a contact element in said second row.

Claim 5

An electrical contact according to claim 1 characterized in that said conductor supporting elements (42) have a support surface which is positioned generally on a plane with the ends of said wire receiving contacts and are separated by wire receiving channels (41) aligned with said U-shaped contact portions (40).

Claim 6

An electrical contact according to claim 1 characterized in that said plural contact elements have offset means (20) in an intermediate portion thereof for supporting said contact element (15) in relationship to said polymeric strip (35) when molded over said offset means.

Claim 7

An electrical contact according to claim 1 characterized in that said plural contact elements are positioned in a plane forming a row and said strip (35) joins the strip of a second electrical contact element (44) having contact portions (40) in a second row and the strip of one row is held in position in relationship to the strip of said second contact element (44) by said registration means (36, 37) for aligning said contact portions in said one row transversely with said conductor positioning elements of said second contact element forming a second row.

Claim 8

An electrical contact according to claim 6 characterized in that said contact elements have offset means (20) in an intermediate portion thereof for supporting said contact element in relationship to said polymeric strip when molded over said offset means and said conductor positioning elements of said strips are positioned adjacent each other.

Claim 9

An electrical connector comprising plural electrical contact elements having opposite ends and contact means at said opposite ends according to claim 6 characterized in that said connector comprises a housing (50) supporting said electrical contact elements (33, 44), said housing having sidewalls (57), said sidewalls being formed with plural conductor supporting surfaces (61) at one plane separated by conductor support channels (60) at a second plane and aligned with said contact portions (40) at one end of said contact elements for connection to a conductor; a cap (66) having plural conductor supporting surfaces (60a) separated by conductor support channels (61a), said conductor supporting surfaces (60a) on said cap being formed to fit snugly into said conductor support channels (60) of said housing and said conductor supporting surfaces (61) of said housing fitting snugly into said conductor support channels (61a) of said cap, said support surfaces being spaced to support alternate conductors of a flat multiwire cable; and that said wire supporting surfaces are trough like with edges (43) cooperating with each other to afford a shearing of the insulation between adjacent conductors in a said cable when said cap (66) is placed on said housing (50) with a said cable (65) therebetween.