This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to a female blade terminal comprising a part of an electrical connector.
Electrical connectors comprising interengaging male and female terminals are well known in the art and are in wide use for establishing electrical connection between various electrical components. One popular and widely used electrical connector comprises a male blade terminal adapted to be slidably received in a cage or socket defined by a female blade terminal.
There are many design parameters that must be considered when designing a connector of the blade type. Specifically, the connector must have a simple and inexpensive design; must have a relatively small size; must provide maximum current carrying capacity; must provide a low insertion force so as to allow easy connection and disconnection of the terminal elements; must provide sufficient grasping action as between the terminal elements to preclude inadvertent separation of the elements; must provide reliable and consistent operation for sustained periods of time; and must discourage corrosion and contamination of the electrical interface provided by the connector.
Whereas a myriad of electrical connectors of the blade type have been proposed and are in common usage, none of the prior art blade type connectors totally satisfy all of the noted design parameters.