GB1008323A - Method and apparatus for crimping electrical connectors to wires - Google Patents

Abstract

1,008,323. Making electrical connections; jointing by stamping; shearing; breaking. A.M.P. CORPORATION. Aug. 5, 1964 [Aug. 9, 1963], No. 31737/64. Headings B3A, B3E, B3Q and B3W. A method of crimping electrical connectors 4, joined by a carrier strip 6, to wires comprises weakening a portion of the strip 6 upstream of the crimping station, feeding the strip towards the crimping station, crimping a connector to a wire, and bending the strip to break it at the weakened portion, freeing the connector. A carrier strip 6 may be provided at each end of the connectors, which comprise limbs 8 for crimping to insulation, limbs 10 for crimping to a conductor, a spring 3, and guide fingers 11, 13. The feeding and crimping means are similar to those described in Specifications 944,469 and 944,470. The feed finger (not shown) engages holes in the strip 6, which is engaged by a spring-pressed bar 90, Fig. 14, to locate the connectors 4 against an abutment 84. A bifurcated tool 29, Fig. 16, for breaking the weakened strip is mounted on a screw 53 which secures the crimping dies 52, 54 to the ram 48, as described in the above Specifications. The strip is weakened by a shear blade 106, Fig. 4, co-operating with an edge 116 on a lower blade 110 to partially shear the connector at 20, and with a blade 121 to partially shear the strip at 16. The blade 110 is clamped by a bolt 124 and may be adjusted by rotating a polygonal spacer 122 formed with a screwdriver slot, Fig. 3 (not shown). A housing 92 for the upper blade 106 is adjustable laterally of the mechanism by turning a nut 101, Fig. 2, on a screw 100 connected to the housing. The upper blade 106 is raised by springs (Fig. 3) and is lowered by a plunger 132 carried by the ram 48. A coil spring 136, Fig. 15, is compressed as the plunger 132 engages the blade 106, followed by compression of cup springs 135 during the partial shearing operation. The breaking tool 29, Fig. 8, engages an unsupported section 14 of the strip during the bending operation breaking the strip at the weakened parts during a crimping operation, but for simplicity the limbs 8, Fig. 8, are shown uncrimped. Instead of weakening by partial shearing, portions of the strip may be removed by a punch, or by a milling operation.