Sockets for prong socket electrical contacts and in their methods of manufacture

Claim 2

Socket for a prong and socket electrical contact, comprising a portion cut out into contact strips by longitudinal slots and having, over at least a fraction of its length comprising said portion, a transverse section limited internally by a closed continuous curve and, externally, by a polygonal closed line inscribed in a curve parallel to the first, wherein the longitudinal slots are closed at their longitudinal ends and pass through the vertices of the polygonal closed line and the strips of said portion are concave in an axial direction and are adapted to be deformed on the connection of the socket and a prong.

Claim 3

Socket according to claim 1, arranged for mounting in a housing provided in an insulating support, wherein at least one of said strips is cut by a transverse slot extending between two neighboring longitudinal slots into two tongues arranged head to tail with respect to one another and the tongues formed by the one or more transversely cut out strips separate outwardly so as to project by their free ends on the outer surface of the socket and to be cooperable with a locking boss provided in said housing.

Claim 4

Socket according to claim 1, wherein the closed continuous curve is constituted by a circumference.

Claim 5

Socket according to claim 3, wherein the polygonal closed line is a regular polygon with the same center as tHe circumference, including an even number of equal sides at least four in number.

Claim 6

Socket according to claim 4, wherein the regular polygon is a hexagon.

Claim 7

Socket according to claim 1, wherein the polygonal closed line is constituted by the contour of an equilateral triangle.

Claim 8

Socket according to claim 2, including two diametrically opposite strips, each cut into two tongues by a said transverse slot.

Claim 9

Socket according to claim 2, wherein the transverse slot is arranged substantially midway along the longitudinal slot.

Claim 10

Method of manufacturing a socket for an electrical contact according to claim 1, comprising starting with a solid prismatic body of polygonal cross section, machining grooves over a fraction of the length of the crests of the outer surface, piercing a longitudinal cavity in the body whose cross section has dimensions such that said grooves open into the cavity and constitute slots dividing the intermediate portion of the socket into strips and then subjecting the intermediate portion of the body to permanent mechanical deformation adapted to give the strips their axial concavity.

Claim 11

Method according to claim 9 for manufacturing a socket, wherein before subjecting the intermediate portion of the body to said permanent mechanical deformation, one or several strips are provided with a transverse slot extending between two neighboring longitudinal slots, a tool in the form of an anvil is introduced, the large dimension of the anvil being oriented along the direction of the transverse slot, said anvil is subjected, inside the socket, to a rotation of about 90*, the tongues formed by the transversely cut out strip are brought into contact with said anvil, whose large dimension is then oriented at right angles to the large dimension of the transverse slot, a force sufficient to cause permanent deformation of said tongues outwardly is applied, and the tool is disengaged.