Hingeable electrical connector

Claim 1

An electrical connector assembly for establishing electrical contact between first and second connector portions associated with one of a pair of pivotally mounted circuit members, said assembly including each connector portion having a dielectric housing portion, a plurality of terminal receiving cavities formed therein, and first and second sets of terminals mounted within corresponding cavities of the first and second connector portions, respectively, the first set of terminals being mateable with the second set of terminals to form mating terminal pairs, and means for pivotally joining said housing portions together for rotation about an axis, the improvement in said connector assembly comprising: each terminal of said first and second sets of terminals having a mating plate-like contact surface located on said axis of rotation; and said terminal receiving cavities of said first connector portion are defined by resilient housing walls so configured so as to bias together a mating terminal pair received therein with a compressive bias force extending along said axis of rotation.