A terminal has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, an upper wall, an elastic contact portion that is freely elastically deformable in a direction substantially vertical with respect to the bottom wall, an elastic receiving surface portion that opposes the elastic contact portion, an excessive-displacement-preventing piece, and a deformation-preventing stopper. The side walls respectively rise from both ends of the bottom wall. The upper wall extends from at least one of the side walls to over the bottom wall and opposes the bottom wall. The elastic contact portion and the excessive-displacement-preventing piece are provided on one of the bottom wall and the upper wall while the elastic receiving surface portion is provided on the other of them. The excessive-displacement-preventing piece is situated in the vicinity of the elastic contact portion and come into contact with the elastic contact portion in order to prevent excessive displacement of the elastic contact portion. The deformation-preventing stopper is extended from at least one of the side walls. The deformation-preventing stopper is situated in the vicinity of the excessive-displacement-preventing piece in order to check the deformation thereof by contact therewith.
A female terminal fitting (F) has a resilient contact piece (23) with first and second leaf springs (24, 29) connected by a folded portion (26). A base end (24A) of a first leaf spring (24) and an extending end (30) of a second leaf spring (29) are supported on a base plate (14). Thus, a high contact pressure can be ensured. The folded portion (26) enables the resilient contact piece (23) to be short along forward and backward directions. Additionally, the extending end of the first leaf spring (24) and the base end of the second leaf spring (29) are coupled via the closely folded portion (26). Thus, an elevation difference between the first and second leaf springs (24, 29) is small.
An electrical terminal is provided for mating with a blade-like mating terminal. The electrical terminal includes a base having a front mating end and a rear terminating end. A spring arm is folded rearwardly over the base from the front mating end thereof to a rear bowed end of the spring arm. A contact arm is folded back forwardly from the rear bowed end beneath the spring arm above the base and spaced therefrom for receiving the blade-like mating terminal inserted between the contact arm and the base. A sharp edge is formed on the contact arm facing the rear terminating end of the base and engageable with the blade-like mating terminal to resist unmating of the terminals.
An improved box-shaped female electrical connector featuring an optimized conductive (electrical and thermal) path, a spring contact insensitive to deformation, minimization of male blade insertion force, and maximization of contact force with the blade, all made possible by inclusion of the following structural aspects: an optimized conductive path, a spring contact carried by a dual spring contact member operative interfaced with an over stress abutment, a spring contact shield at the mouth of the electrical connector, and a basal contact, disposed opposite the spring contact, which is part of the direct conductive path of the electrical connector.
