Electrical contact terminal which can be mated with an identical terminal or with a dissimilar terminal

Claim 1

An electrical terminal which is adapted to be disengageably coupled with an identical terminal or with a dissimilar terminal, said terminal comprising: a substantially flat web having sidewalls extending from the longitudinal edges thereof, means on said terminal at one end of said web for securing said terminal to an electrical conductor, a pair of contact springs on said terminal at the other end thereof, each of said contact springs comprising an extension on one of said sidewalls, each of said springs projecting coplanarly from its respective sidewall and being reversely bent and extending reversely inwardly and between said sidewalls, said springs each having a width which is less than the width of said sidewalls and said springs extending centrally from the forward ends of said sidewalls so that the sides of said springs are spaced from the edges of said sidewalls are spaced from said web, the reversely extending end portions of said springs extending convergently towards the longitudinal axis of said terminal and a retention lance struck from said web, said lance extending obliquely from said web between said sidewalls, and towards said one end whereby, said terminal and an identical terminal can be engaged with each other upon positioning said terminals in opposed axially offset relationship with the webs of said terminal and said coplanar terminal in a common plane so that said terminal on said identical terminal can be moved into engagement with each other with one sidewall and one contact spring of each terminal extending between the two contact springs of the other terminal.