Apparatus for crimping electric terminals

Claim 1

In an apparatus for crimping generally U-shaped transverse cross-sectional portions of an electric terminal tightly around an electric conductor, said apparatus including an anvil having a flat vertical front surface and a terminal receiving seat at the top of said anvil extending rearwardly from said front surface, crimping die means mounted above said anvil for vertical reciprocation between a ready position spaced vertically above said anvil and a lowered crimping position adjacent said anvil, said die means being operable upon downward movement to said crimping position to crimp the U-shaped portion of a terminal supported upon said terminal receiving seat, feed means for cyclically horizontally feeding along a feed path an elongate carrier strip having terminals integrally attached at one end to one side of said strip at uniformly spaced positions therealong to advance the terminals step by step in succession to said seat with said strip disposed forwardly of said front surface of said anvil, a vertically reciprocable cutter having a flat vertical rear surface in sliding face-to-face engagement with said front surface of said anvil, means defining a horizontal carrier strip receiving slot in said cutter extending transversely across said rear surface and forwardly from said rear surface to an inner wall, said cutter being vertically movable relative to said anvil between a normally maintained rest position wherein said slot is above said anvil and an actuated position wherein said slot is located below said seat on said anvil, means engageable between said die means and said cutter for driving said cutter from said rest position to said actuated position to shear a terminal on said seat from said strip upon movement of said die means from its ready position to said crimping position, and locator means comprising only a downwardly projecting arm fixedly mounted on said die means and having a downwardly and rearwardly curved lower surface located above said strip when said die means is in its ready position, said locator means being mounted on said die means in a position relative to the carrier strip feed path to that upon downward movement of said die means from said ready position to move into engagement with said carrier strip between a terminal on said seat and the next adjacent terminal and cam said strip forwardly against said inner wall of said slot prior to the shearing of said terminal from said strip.