A compliant electrical connector pin has opposed convex surfaces to grip the surfaces of a hole in a circuit board, the pin having a compliant region so that the pin compresses to reduce the cross sectional area of the pin as the pin is inserted into the hole with the pin having a transition zone proximate the compliant region with the transition zone and the compliant region sufficiently interrelated so that the transition zone partially expands the hole in the circuit board before the hole in the circuit board begins to compress the compliant region of the pin with the compliant region and the hole coacting to provide a low resistance electrical connection between mating surfaces of the hole and the pin without rupturing the material on the side walls of the hole with the compliant pin structure being able to withstand vibration without fracturing.
RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 526,262, filed 8,25,82 now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 480,918 titled COMPLIANT PIN filed Apr. 7, 1983, now abandoned.
A contact pin for an electrical component, in particular a circuit board, which is provided with a central web-like upset-zone is also provided with spherically molded enlargements on both sides of the press fit portion in order to stabilize the deformation process when the contact pin is being pressed in. The portion of the contact pin located between the connector and the printed circuit board is further formed by two laterally spaced narrow webs as a parallelogram guide means.
A solderless electrical contact commonly called a press-fit contact pin includes a press fit section comprising, in cross section, a double open curved or arcuate section generally resembling an "S" shape and a longitudinal section having tapering cross-section to provide a lead-in angle. More particularly, the press-fit section has curved faces each formed from an arc of radius defined as ##EQU1## where R is the radius, S is the height of the rectangular blank, T is the thickness of the material disposed between said curved surfaces at their closest point, and L is the length of the press-fit section.
An electrical terminal pin with a compliant portion adapted to be inserted into a plated-through hole of a circuit board. The compliant portion has a generally S-shaped cross-section with a width which gradually increases from a first axial end toward at least the middle of the axial length of the contact section. The pin has a mating portion joining the compliant portion for connection to another circuit element. Stiffening means are formed on one side of the compliant portion extending from the juncture with the mating portion to prevent breaking of the mating portion from the compliant portion when a transverse force is applied to the mating portion. The compliant pin is mass produced by using a strip of material having a generally uniform thickness throughout. The material is stamped in a given configuration and formed at successive stations to produce the S-shaped cross sectional compliant portion.
An electrical contact terminal which includes a terminal portion (1); an insertion portion (2); and a press-fit portion (4) provided between the terminal portion and the insertion portion and having a pair of abutment portions (5, 6) and a bridge portion (7) between the abutment portions to form an S-shaped cross section, the bridge portion having a pair of expanded portions (11, 12) connected to the abutment portions with a pair of tie portions (8, 10) and interconnected with a central tie portion (9), with the tie portions each being defined by a recess (13, 15) and a concave surface (14, 16) and the central tie portion being defined by the recesses, the tie portions having substantially the same cross sections having equal yielding deformations, the abutment portions, the expanded portions, and the central tie portion being made symmetrical about a center O of the bridge portion, a distance L between the abutment portions and a distance L' between the expanded portions when the press-fit portion is not press fitted in a through hole being made greater than and smaller than a diameter D of the through hole, respectively, and the abutment portions having an abutment surface (5a, 6a) with a radius of curvature which is equal to that of the through hole 20.
A terminal (10) has two high-rigidity portions (14) for resiliently contacting the inner surface of a through hole (23). A low-rigidity portion (17) spans between the high-rigidity portions (14) and is compressively deformable along its spanning direction. The low-rigidity portion (17) has an easily breakable portion (19) that breaks when a stress acting during the insertion of the terminal (10) into the through hole (23) exceeds a resiliency limit. Thus, the terminal (10) is held resiliently in contact with a large diameter through hole (23) by resilient forces of the two high-rigidity portions (14) and a resilient force of the low-rigidity portion (17). However, the terminal (10) is held resiliently in contact with a small diameter through hole (23) only by the resilient forces of the two high-rigidity portions (14).
