GB1213450A - Apparatus for crimping electrical connectors to wires - Google Patents

Abstract

1,213,450. Attaching terminals to wire leads; jointing by stamping; shearing. AMP Inc. 23 July, 1969 [29 Aug., 1968], No. 37041/69. Addition to 1,138,572. Headings B3A, B3Q and B3W. [Also in Division H2] Apparatus for stripping the insulation from an end of a wire W and crimping a U-section ferrule FC to the bared end comprises a clamping device for gripping the wire, a pair of blades 62 which sever the insulation and drag it from the wire end, the clamping device then being moved so as to place the stripped wire end in the ferrule FC disposed upon an anvil 16, and a crimping die 12 movable towards the anvil by a press ram 6 to crimp the ferrule to the wire end. A terminal strip ST is placed under a pressure pad 5 with the leading connector EC1 of the strip on the anvil 16. The end of the wire W is laid in a notch 28 of a shear member 18 so that it engages an adjustable stop 86. A control circuit is actuated to supply compressed air through pipes 93A to drive a piston 50 and a latch member 42 against a spring 43 to release a clamp 36. The clamp 36 is driven downwardly by a spring 38 to grip the wire between serrated surfaces of the notch 28 and a rod 58. Air is exhausted through a pipe 92 to retract the stop 86 and a solenoid is actuated to cause the ram 6 to perform a working cycle through a one-shot clutch. As the ram descends cam surfaces 76 on blade actuators 78 engage surfaces 74 of blade carriers 64 to close blades 62 about the wire W at a location which has been determined by the position of the stop 86. A chamfered surface on a cross-bar from which the actuators 78 depend engages a bellcrank 82 to move a slide (68) against a spring (70) so that the blades 62 drag the severed insulation from the wire, Fig. 4 (not shown). When the cam surfaces 74 reach the ends of the cam surfaces 76, a spring 80 opens the blades 62. A surface 102 of a cam 100 depresses a ball 98 to change over a valve 96 so that air is exhausted from under a shear member 18 via a pipe 26, leaving the member 18 unsupported against the action of the spring 38. The bared end of the wire is accordingly lowered into the ferrule FC and the adjacent portion of insulation into the ferrule FI of the connector EC1. As the ram 6 approaches bottom dead centre dies (12), (14), Fig. 2 (not shown), crimp the ferrules FI, FC respectively to the insulation and to the bared wire. A depressor 32 further depresses the shear member 18 so that a shear edge 30 co-operates with shear edges of a block 17 and the anvil 16 to separate the connector EC1 from the strip ST along lines A, B. The ball 98 now enters a recess 106 of the cam 100 to reset the valve 96 so that the member 18 is again supported against the action of the clamp 36 to drive it into the depressor 32 to reset the latch member 42 and lock the clamp. As the ram 6 returns upwardly, the clamp 36 ascends therewith after the surface 102 has cleared the ball 98. Towards the end of the ram's return stroke a feed finger 8 advances the strip ST, the finger being withdrawn during the working stroke of the ram, and the wire stop 86 is again advanced.