Insulation displacement connector for flat cable having closely spaced wires

Claim 1

An insulation displacement connector for a flat flexible multi-conductor cable; said multi-conductor cable comprising a plurality of wires laterally spaced from one another by a first distance and contained within a flexible insulation sheath, said connector comprising an insulation housing which contains a plurality of openings arranged in at least three parallel rows, each of said rows having at least two openings, each of said openings containing one of a plurality of identical electrical contacts; each of said contacts being of a fixed size and configuration and comprising an insulation piercing end and an oppositely disposed nose end, each of said piercing ends comprising a slot portion and being operable to pierce the insulation sheath of said multi-conductor cable, whereupon said slot portion electrically engages a respective one of said plurality of wires; each of said plurality of openings being operable to receive a respective pin of a multi-pin header to be connected to said connector, said pins being arranged in at least three rows having at least two pins per row and spaced apart by a second distance larger than said first distance; each of said contacts having a lateral center line, with the slot portion of each contact being offset from the contact's lateral center line by a distance equal to one-half of said first distance; each of said nose ends of said contacts including first and second pin engaging portions, said first and second pin engaging portions of each contact being located on opposite sides of said center line and spaced therefrom by a distance equal to one-half of said first distance, and with said second pin engaging portion of each contact being axially aligned with the slot portion thereof; said contacts being disposed so that each contact in one row is located in a respective opening therein and oriented in a first common direction and manner, with its respective first pin engaging portion axially aligned with the header pin to be received in said respective opening, each contact in a second row is located in a respective opening and oriented in a second common direction and manner, with its second pin engaging portion axially aligned with the header pin to be received in said respective opening, and each contact in a third row is located in a respective opening and oriented in a third common direction and manner, with its first pin engaging portion axially aligned with the header pin to be received in said respective opening, the center lines of corresponding contacts of said first and second rows being aligned while the center lines of the corresponding contacts of said third row are offset from said aligned center lines by said first distance, whereupon when said header is connected to said connector, some of the pins of said header engage some of the first pin engaging portions of the associated contacts in good electrical continuity while some of the pins of the header engage some of the second pin engaging portions of the associated contacts in good electrical continuity therewith.