Method for producing a socket contact

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a socket contact consisting of a sleeve and a contact cage which are formed from a first and a second metal strip. In said method, at least one step for forming the sleeve and a step for forming the contact cage are carried out in a parallel shaping process.

Claims

1. A method for producing a socket contact comprising a sleeve and a contact cage, which are formed from a first and a second metal strip, wherein at least one step for forming the sleeve and one step for forming the contact cage are performed in a parallel shaping and forming process, the method comprising the steps of: feeding the first metal strip into a first punching device and feeding the second metal strip into a second punching device; perforating and die-stamping the first metal strip by a punching tool of the first punching device, wherein a perforation is carried out in each case after a first predetermined length and the first metal strip is formed by the die-stamping to give a sleeve blank having connection portions, wherein the sleeve blank is connected by the perforation to a subsequent sleeve blank, such that the first metal strip is formed to give a plurality of sleeve blanks connected at the perforation; perforating and die-stamping the second metal strip by a punching tool of the second punching device, wherein a perforation is carried out in each case after a second predetermined length and the second metal strip is formed by the die-stamping to give a contact cage blank having a grating structure and connection portions, wherein the contact cage blank is connected by the perforation to a subsequent contact cage blank, such that the second metal strip is formed to give a plurality of contact cage blanks connected at the perforation; and feeding the first metal strip, comprising the plurality of sleeve blanks, to a first separating and forming device and feeding the second metal strip comprising the plurality of contact cage blanks, to a second separating and forming device, separating and forming the first metal strip comprising the plurality of sleeve blanks, in the first separating and forming device, wherein in each case the sleeve blank is separated from the first metal strip at the perforation and formed by rolling or bending the sleeve blank to give the sleeve and, separating and forming the second metal strip comprising the plurality of contact cage blanks, in the second separating and forming device, wherein in each case the contact cage blank is separated from the second metal strip at the perforation and formed by rolling or bending the contact cage blank to give the contact cage.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises at least the following steps: a. feeding the sleeve and the contact cage to an automatic assembly device, b. assembling the sleeve and the contact cage in the assembly device to give the socket contact, wherein the contact cage is pushed into the sleeve transversely to the transport direction of the strips and fixed to the sleeve.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprises the step of controlling the first and the second punching device and the first and the second separating and forming device such that the respective method steps are performed in parallel.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, during the assembly, latching elements are latched to a respective counter-latching element or bear against a retaining element in order to fix the contact cage in the sleeve.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and the second punching device are formed integrally with one another.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and the second punching tool are formed in one piece with one another.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a grating structure of the second metal strip is formed by punching out cutouts running parallel to one another and running orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal direction of the second metal strip or at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the second metal strip.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, before the separating and forming of the second metal strip, the method comprises an additional step of forming the second metal strip in which the second metal strip is compressed in its width, such that a central region running along the second metal strip protrudes convexly out from the second metal strip.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, during the die-stamping of the first and the second metal strip, a connection portion is formed in each case on two edge portions which are opposite in the longitudinal direction of the respective metal strip, which connection portions engage into one another during the forming of the respective metal strip.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, during the die-stamping of the first and the second metal strip, mutually corresponding latching, counter-latching and retaining elements are punched into the first and second metal strips.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, during the forming of the contact cage blank to give the contact cage, the contact cage is twisted such that a region that is central in a width direction and runs in an encircling manner in a circumferential direction is constricted.

Description

(1) Other advantageous refinements of the invention are characterized in the dependent claims or illustrated in more detail below, together with the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, on the basis of the figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a method according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a sleeve blank;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a contact cage blank;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a sleeve;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a contact cage;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a socket contact;

(8) FIG. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of a socket contact.

(9) The figures are by way of example and schematic. Identical reference designations in the figures indicate identical functional and/or structural features.

(10) FIG. 1 shows a method according to the invention. Here, the first and second metal strips 22, 32, each having a longitudinal direction L1, L2, are fed to the method in each case by a roller (not illustrated). The metal strips 22, 32 run parallel to one another into the punching device 1, which has two punching tools formed integrally with one another and with which the metal strips 22, 32 are each formed by perforating and die-stamping. Here, the first metal strip 22 is formed into a plurality of sleeve blanks 21 connected by the perforation 27 and the second metal strip 32 is formed into a plurality of contact cage blanks connected by the perforation 37. Sleeve blanks and contact cage blanks 21, 31 run, in a manner connected in each case by the perforations 27, 37 to give a strip, parallel to one another into the separating and forming device 2, in which the individual sleeve blanks and contact cage blanks 21, 31 are separated at the respective perforation 27, 37 and formed. During the forming in the separating and forming device 2, the sleeve blanks or contact cage blanks 21, 31 are each rolled, such that tubular sleeves 20 or contact cages 30 are respectively formed. During the forming, the connection portions 25′, 25″, 35′, 35″ formed on the sleeve blanks 21 and on the contact cage blanks 31 are each latched to or brought into engagement with the corresponding connection portions, such that the sleeves 20 keep their shape and cannot spring apart from one another and the contact cages 30 are aligned with respect to themselves at their respective connection portions 35′, 35″. Additionally, the contact cages 30 are twisted after the rolling by virtue of the fact that the regions which are opposite in the width direction of the metal strip are fixed and twisted towards one another, as a result of which a constriction forms in the encircling region 36. The sleeves 20 and the contact cages 30 are transported from the separating and forming device 2 into the assembly device 3, wherein for each sleeve 20, a contact cage 30 is formed and transported to the assembly device 3. In the assembly device 3, one contact cage 30 in each case is pushed into one sleeve 20, or one sleeve 20 is pushed onto one contact cage 30. Here, the latching elements 33, 34 are latched to the respective counter-latching elements 24 or are brought to bear against the retaining elements 23, as a result of which the contact cage 30 is fixed in the sleeve 20 and the socket contact 10 has been formed. The dashed line in FIG. 1 schematically shows that the individual method steps by the punching device 1, the separating and forming device 2 and the assembly device 3 are arranged in one installation or in a manner spatially directly following one another.

(11) In FIG. 2, a sleeve blank 21 is shown. In the punching device 1, the counter-latching elements 24 are punched out and protrusions are formed on the opposite side of the first metal strip 22 by the punching-in of recesses. The protrusions serve as retaining elements 23. Formed on those edge portions of the first metal strip 22 which are opposite in the longitudinal direction are mutually corresponding connection portions 25′, 25″, which are in the form of latching and counter-latching elements and are latched to one another in the separating and forming device 2. Before the separating, the plurality of sleeve blanks 21 are connected to one another by the perforation 27, wherein, in the case of the sleeve blank 21 shown, the perforation is in each case in the form of a web on a connection portion 25′ in the form of a latching element, running from the connection portion 25′ in the longitudinal direction to the connection portion 25″, in the form of a counter-latching element, of a directly adjacent sleeve blank.

(12) A contact cage blank 31 is shown in FIG. 3. A grating structure having contact lamellae is formed on the contact cage blank 31 by a plurality of cutouts 38 that run parallel to one another. Here, the cutouts 38 run from a in the width direction of the second metal strip 32, from which the contact cage blank 31 is formed, from a first to a second edge region 39′, 39″. The webs formed by the cutouts 38, each web being between two cutouts 38, connect the first edge region 39′ to the second edge region 39″. During the die-stamping, the latching elements 33, 34 are formed in the first and the second edge regions 39′, 39″. The latching elements 34 which are in the second edge region 39″ are in the form of latching lugs here, which are bent out from the plane of the metal strip in order to be able to engage resiliently into the counter-latching elements 24 of the sleeve. At the edge regions in the longitudinal direction of the second metal strip 32 there are mutually corresponding connection portions 35′, 35″, which are formed during the die-stamping. During the rolling of the contact cage blank 31 to give the contact cage 30 in the separating and forming device 2, the edge regions in the longitudinal direction are aligned with one another by means of the connection portions 35′, 35″, by virtue of in each case a connection portion 35′ in the form of a tongue being brought to rest on the connection portion 35″ in the form of a supporting surface. The perforation 37 connects multiple contact cage blanks 31 to one another, such that they are lined up with one another in strip form. Here, the perforation 37 is formed in each case by a web on a connection portion 35′, which extends in the longitudinal direction of the second metal strip 32 from the respective connection portion 35′ to the directly adjacent connection portion 35″ of the directly adjacent contact cage blank.

(13) FIGS. 4 and 5 show the sleeve 20 and the contact cage 30 after the separating and forming by the separating and forming device 2. The respective connection portions 25′, 35′ are brought into engagement or to bear against the respectively corresponding connection portions 25″, 35″. The latching element 34 in the form of a tongue is bent outward, such that during the assembly it can engage or latch into the counter-latching element 24 in the form of an opening. In the encircling region 36 of the contact cage 30, which is arranged centrally in the width direction of the second metal strip 32, from which the contact cage 30 is formed, an inwardly pointing bulge or constriction is formed by torsion.

(14) In FIG. 6, the socket contact 10 is shown after the assembly, wherein the latching element 33, which is in the form of a groove-shaped recess, bears against the retaining element in the form of a supporting surface and the latching element 34 in the form of a tongue engages into the counter-latching element 24 in the form of an opening. Here, the assembly takes place by laterally pushing the contact cage 30 into the sleeve 20 transversely to the transport direction of the strips 22, 32. The connection portions 35′, 35″ of the contact cage serve merely for aligning the respective edge regions with respect to one another, whereas the connection portions 25′, 25″ of the sleeve 20 serve for holding together the tubular or hollow-cylindrical socket contact 10.

(15) FIG. 7 shows a further embodiment of the socket contact as a socket contact 10′. Here, the sleeve 20′ of the socket contact 10′ is lengthened in the width direction, wherein a connection portion 26′ is formed during the die-stamping, separating and forming. A conductor can be connected directly to the socket contact 10′ through the connection portion 26′.

(16) The invention is not restricted in terms of its embodiment to the preferred exemplary embodiments specified above. Rather, numerous variants are conceivable, which make use of the solution illustrated even in the case of fundamentally different embodiments. For example, the sleeve and the contact cage could be brought into a polygonal tubular shape during the forming by being bent along predetermined bending edges.

LIST OF REFERENCE DESIGNATIONS

(17) 1 Punching device 2 Separating and forming device 3 Assembly device 10 Socket contact 10′ Socket contact 20 Sleeve 20′ Sleeve 21 Sleeve blank 22 First metal strip 23 Retaining element 24 Counter-latching element 25′ Connection portion 25″ Connection portion 26′ Connection portion 27 Perforation 30 Contact cage 30′ Contact cage 31 Contact cage blank 32 Second metal strip 33 Latching element 34 Latching element 35′ Connection portion 35″ Connection portion 36 Encircling region 37 Perforation 38 Cutout 39′ First edge region 39″ Second edge region L1 Longitudinal direction L2 Longitudinal direction