Many electrical connectors enable the conductors of a cable to be electrically joined to terminals in the connector. The connector with the cable extending therefrom can be mated with a compatible connector which is mounted to another cable, an electrical apparatus or the like. Electrical connectors desirably should achieve many objectives including: a high quality electrical connection; low manufacturing costs; a minimum number of components; a low design profile; easy assembly; environmental sealing; compatibility with other connectors and durability.
One very desirable electrical connector that achieves the above identified objectives is shown in patent application Ser. No. 005,045 entitled "ENVIRONMENTALLY SEALED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,174, which was filed by Leonard H. Michaels and which is assigned to the assignee of the subject invention. The disclosure of this co-pending application is incorporated herein by reference.
As explained in application Ser. No. 005,045, it is often necessary or desirable to have the cable extend from the connector at approximately 90.degree. to the mating axis of the connector. However, the mere uncontrolled bending of a cable through 90.degree. immediately adjacent to a connector can create stresses within the cable or at the electrical and mechanical connections between the cable conductors and the terminals of the connector. The stresses created at these locations by the uncontrolled bending of the cable has been known to cause sufficient stress to damage the conductors and render the connector substantially inoperative.
One type of structure intended to avoid these problems is a plastic right angle head molded directly onto the assembled connector. Although this prior art structure is compact, it is also costly and suffers from poor reliability. In particular, the insert molding process required for these right angle heads is time consuming and labor intensive. Additionally, these right angle heads employ elastomers as the insulation material to bond to and seal the cable under flexing. However, these elastomers contribute to two other failure modes. For example, the elastomer stresses under tension and becomes proportionally thinner. As a result, it is possible to break the wires under the elastomer at the crimp joint in the right angle head. Damage of this type cannot be seen on the outside of the part, and will only be realized by a failure of the connector in testing or actual use. It also has been found that the bonding of the elastomer to the cable is unpredictable and appears to vary in accordance with unpredictable molding process parameters. In many instances, the elastomer will fail to seal and/or bond to the cable. Consequently, the cable will slip relative to the elastomer, and the intended strain relief will not be provided.
Another distinct structure for providing right angle connectors is to employ cast metal angles or multiple cast parts to obtain the required angular orientation. These designs generally work well and do not suffer from the failures described above with respect to the molded on right angle heads. However, connectors employing multiple cast parts are extremely expensive to manufacture and are much larger. Size often is one of the most important design criteria of the connector.
Still another structure for obtaining the right angle orientation of the connector is to employ multiple metallic parts that are brazed together. Once again, the resulting parts are reliable, but they are costly and labor intensive to manufacture, and are undesirably large.
The above described U.S. patent application Ser. No. 005,045 shows and describes a right angle adapter that is molded from an elastomeric material. This adapter is desirable in that it can readily be added on after the cable and connector half are in a fully assembled condition. Although this right angle adapter offers certain advantages, it is desirable to provide a right angle connector that reliably provides more positive strain relief and that securely grips the cable in an unstressed condition.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide an electrical connector with a cable exit at an angle to the mating axis of the connector.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an efficient electrical connector with a cable exit at 90.degree. to the mating axis of the connector.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide an electrical connector with a right angle cable exit and that is simple in construction, and easy to assemble.
It is still another object of the subject invention to provide an electrical connector with a right angle cable exit wherein the connector provides a seal and strain relief to the cable interface.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide an efficient electrical connector with a right angle cable exit and with a compact design profile.