Improved connectors and guide means for electrical harness making

Claim 2

Means for manufacturing an electrical harness comprising: a plurality of electrical connector housings, each of said housings having a mating face and a rearward face, contact-receiving cavities extending through said housings from the rearward faces thereof to the mating faces, said cavities being spaced-apart by the same distance in all of said housings, said cavities being adapted to receive contact terminals by axial movement of said terminals into said mating faces of said housings and into said cavities said housings having external dimensions permitting a plurality of said housings to be positioned in back-to-back relationship with at least one of said housings with cavities in said plurality of housings being in alignment with cavities in said one housing whereby, said harness can be manufactured by positioning said plurality of housings and said one housing in back-to-back relationship, passing wires through the said cavities in said one housing and said plurality of housings until intermediate portions of said wires are in said cavities, securing terminals to the ends of said wires, and moving said housings relatively towards said terminals until said terminals are in said housings.

Claim 3

Means for manufacturing an electrical harness as set forth in claim 1 including holding means for temporarily holding said one housing and said plurality of housings in back-to-back relationship.

Claim 4

Harness making means for manufacturing an electrical harness of the type comprising at least two connector housings, each of said housings having a plurality of housing cavities extending therethrough from the rearward face thereof to the mating face thereof, at least one of said housings having said cavities arranged in two rows, contact terminals in said cavities and conductors secured to said terminals and extending between the said rearward faces of said housings, said harness making means comprising: wire guide and identification means, said guide and identification means comprising a relatively rigid member having a plurality of guide and identification openings extending therethrough at locations corresponding to the locations of said cavities in said housings, the size of said openings being sufficient to permit passage of said wires therethrough but insufficient to permit passage of said terminals therethrough, said wire guide and identification means being removable from said wires after insertion of said wires therethrough whereby, upon inserting wires through said guide openings in said wire guide and identification means until an intermediate portion of each wire extends through said guide openings, terminals can be applied to the ends of said wires and said guide and identification means can be moved relatively along said wires to the ends thereof thereby to align said terminals and locate said terminals in positions corresponding to the positions of said housing cavities thereby to facilitate insertion of said terminals into said housing cavities.

Claim 5

Harness making means for manufacturing an electrical harness of the type comprising at least two connector housings, each of said housings having a plurality of housing cavities extending therethrough from the rearward face thereof to the mating face thereof, at least one of said housings having said cavities arranged in two rows, contact terminals in said cavities and conductors secured to said terminals and extending between the said rearward faces of said housings, said harness making means comprising: wire guide and identification means, said guide and identification means comprising a relatively rigid member having a plurality of guide and identification openings extending therethrough at locations corresponding to the locations of said cavities in said housings, the size of said openings being sufficient to permit passage of said wires therethrough but insufficient to permit passage of said terminals therethrough, said wire guide and identification means being removable from said wires after insertion of said wires therethrough whereby, upon inserting wires through said guide openings in said wire guide and identification means until an intermediate portion of each wire extends through said guide openings, terminals can be applied to the ends of said wires and said guide and identification means can be moved relatively along said wires to the ends thereof thereby to align said terminals and locate said terminals in positions corresponding to the positions of said housing cavities thereby to facilitate insertion of said terminals into said housing cavities.

Claim 6

Harness making means as set forth in claim 3 wherein said wire guide And identification means comprises a block comprising a plurality of modular sections, said sections being separable from each other along planes extending through said guide and identification openings, and means for holding said sections in assembled relationship while permitting disassembly of said sections from each other.

Claim 7

Harness making means as set forth in claim 4 wherein said means for holding said sections in assembled relationship comprises clamping means surrounding said block.

Claim 8

Harness making means as set forth in claim 3 wherein said wire guide and identification means comprises a block, said guide and identification openings being enlarged on each face of said block so as to receive portions of said terminals during insertion thereof into said connectors.

Claim 9

Harness making means for manufacturing an electrical harness of the type comprising at least three connector housings each of which contains electrical contact terminals and wires extending between said terminals, said harness making means comprising: first, second, and third electrical connector housings, said first housing having a plurality of contact receiving cavities extending therethrough from the rearward face thereof to the forward face thereof, said cavities being arranged on a predetermined pattern, said second and third connector housings each having a plurality of contact receiving cavities extending therethrough from the rearward faces thereof to the forward faces thereof, the sum of the cavities in said second and third housings being no greater than the number of cavities in said first housing, each of said second and third connector housings having its cavities arranged on a pattern which is a part of said predetermined pattern whereby, upon positioning said rearward faces of said second and third connector housings against said rearward face of said first connector housing with said cavities in said second and third housing in alignment with said cavities in said first housing, upon passing said wires through said cavities in said housings, upon attaching terminals to the ends of said wires, and upon sliding said first housing toward one end of said wires and said second and third housings towards the other ends of said wires, said terminals will be properly located in predetermined cavities in said housings.

Claim 10

Harness making means for manufacturing an electrical harness of the type comprising at least three connector housings each of which contains electrical contact terminals and wires extending between said terminals, said harness making means comprising: first, second, and third electrical connector housings, said first housing having a plurality of contact receiving cavities extending therethrough from the rearward face thereof to the forward face thereof, said cavities being arranged on a predetermined pattern, said second and third connector housings each having a plurality of contact receiving cavities extending therethrough from the rearward faces thereof to the forward faces thereof, the sum of the cavities in said second and third housings being no greater than the number of cavities in said first housing, each of said second and third connector housings having its cavities arranged on a pattern which is a part of said predetermined pattern whereby, upon positioning said rearward faces of said second and third connector housings against said rearward face of said first connector housing with said cavities in said second and third housing in alignment with said cavities in said first housing, upon passing said wires through said cavities in said housings, upon attaching terminals to the ends of said wires, and upon sliding said first housing toward one end of said wires and said second and third housings towards the other ends of said wires, said terminals will be properly located in predetermined cavities in said housings.

Claim 11

Harness making means as set forth in claim 7 comprising at least one additional connector housing beyond said first, second, and third housings, said at least one additional housing having cavities extending therethrough, said cavities in said at least one additional housing being arranged on a pattern which is the same as cavities in at least one of said first, second, and third housings whereby, said at least one additional housing can be positioned in juxtaposition to at least one of said first, second, and third housings with its rearward face against the rearward face of at least one of said first, second, and third housings, and wires can be passed through said cavities in said at least one additional housing and through said cavities in at least one of said first, second and third housings, terminals can be crimped onto said wires, and said terminals can be positioned in said cavities in said at least one additional housing and at least one of said first, second, and third housings.