JP7684845B2 - Connector Terminals - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to connector terminals, and more specifically to connector terminals for electrical connections used in card edge connectors, etc.

A connector terminal used in a card edge connector or the like is known that is conductively connected to a conductive surface provided on a board-side terminal of a printed circuit board, includes a housing that includes a bottom wall and is slidable in the front-rear direction relative to the board terminal, and a springy contact carrying piece that has one end connected to the bottom wall and extends in the front-rear direction, and is provided with a first contact portion on the contact carrying piece that is located outside the housing in a free state where it is not in contact with the board-side terminal, and moves toward the inside of the housing due to elastic deformation of the contact carrying piece when it is pressed down toward the bottom wall by contact with the board-side terminal, and a second contact portion that is located inside the housing in the free state and moves outward from the housing as the first contact portion moves toward the inside of the housing (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

When the connector terminal moves relative to the printed circuit board, the first contact portion first comes into contact with the board-side terminal, and this contact causes the contact carrying piece to elastically deform so as to be pressed down toward the bottom wall. This elastic deformation causes the second contact portion to move upward, and the second contact portion comes into contact with the board-side terminal by being positioned outside the housing, and the first and second contact portions are electrically connected to the board terminal as contact portions.

Patent No. 6198365 JP 2018-18749 A

In the above connector terminal, when the first contact portion abuts against the board-side terminal and the contact carrying piece is pushed down toward the bottom wall, the contact carrying piece hits the bottom wall, and the bottom wall prevents the contact carrying piece from further elastic deformation. This increases the operating force (board insertion force) required to move the connector terminal relative to the printed circuit board, resulting in poor connection operability.

This can be solved by increasing the vertical dimension of the connector terminal, but this would increase the size of the connector terminal and hinder the connector from being made more compact.

In view of the above background, the present invention aims to avoid the deterioration of connection operability due to an increase in the operating force required for connection, without increasing the size of the connector terminal.

In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention is a connector terminal (38) that is conductively connected to a conductive surface (14A) provided on a board-side terminal (14), and has a bottom wall (48) extending in the front-to-rear direction, and a contact carrying piece (52) that extends from a front end located on the front side of the bottom wall toward the rear of the bottom wall and is elastically bendable and deformable in the up-down direction, and the contact carrying piece has a lower piece (70) that extends rearward and upward from the front end, a curved piece (72) that curves forward and upward from the rear end of the lower piece, and a curved piece (73) that extends from the upper end of the curved piece. The upper piece (74) extends forward and downward, and the upper piece includes a first contact portion (76) protruding upward on the proximal side of the curved piece and a second contact portion (78) protruding upward on the distal side of the curved piece. The contact carrying piece is configured so that when the first contact portion is pressed down by contact with the board side terminal, the second contact portion is displaced upward toward the board side terminal. The bottom wall has a recess (84, 86) or an opening (88) in the part facing the lower piece into which the lower piece can enter.

According to this aspect, the stroke of the lower piece of the contact-carrying piece from its free state until it abuts against the bottom wall is expanded by the recess or opening provided in the bottom wall, and the connector terminal does not become larger, and deterioration of connection operability due to an increase in the operating force required for connection is avoided.

In the above embodiment, the bottom wall may further include side walls (50) rising from the left and right side edges, and the upper piece may have an intermediate portion (74A) between the first contact portion and the second contact portion supported by the side walls so as to be able to swing.

According to this embodiment, the upper piece pivots and displaces with the support part against the side wall as a fulcrum, and when the first contact part is pressed down, the second contact part is reliably displaced upward toward the board side terminal.

In the above aspect, a housing (40) having an upwardly opening groove-shaped cross section is formed including the bottom wall and the side walls, the first contact portion is located outside the housing in a free state where it is not in contact with the board-side terminal, and moves toward the inside of the housing due to elastic deformation of the contact carrying piece when pressed down by contact with the board-side terminal, and the second contact portion is located inside the housing in the free state, and may be configured to move outward from the housing as the first contact portion moves toward the inside of the housing.

According to this aspect, in the free state, the second contact portion is located inside the housing, so that external forces are less likely to be applied to the second contact portion, and deformation of the second contact portion is suppressed.

In the above aspect, the lower piece may be folded back from the front end of the bottom wall to form an integral member with the bottom wall.

This reduces the number of parts in the connector terminal.

In the above embodiment, the bottom wall, the side wall, and the contact support piece may be a single-piece press-molded product.

This reduces the number of parts in the connector terminal.

The above aspects make it possible to avoid deterioration of connection operability due to increased operating force required for connection without increasing the size of the connector terminal.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a card edge connector having connector terminals according to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a plan view of a connector terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the connector terminal according to the embodiment is assembled into a housing. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a connector terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional side view showing the relationship between a first contact portion of the connector terminal and a printed circuit board according to the embodiment; 1A to 1E are cross-sectional views showing the process of connecting a connector to a printed circuit board. 5A to 5E are cross-sectional views showing a process of connecting a connector to a printed circuit board, comparing the connector according to the present embodiment with a conventional connector. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a press-punched plate that is a material for the connector terminal according to the present embodiment; 1 is a perspective view showing a manufacturing process of a connector terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; 13 is a cross-sectional view of a main portion of a connector terminal according to another embodiment; 11 is a plan view of a press-punched plate that is a material for a connector terminal according to another embodiment; 13 is a cross-sectional view of a main portion of a connector terminal according to another embodiment; 11 is a plan view of a press-punched plate that is a material for a connector terminal according to another embodiment;

Below, an embodiment of a connector terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, up/down, left/right, and front/rear will be defined as shown by the arrows in Figure 1. However, this definition of directions is for the convenience of explanation and is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 1, the connector 10 of this embodiment is used as an electrical connection device with a printed circuit board 12. In this embodiment, the connector 10 is a so-called card edge connector, and is connected to the edge portion of the printed circuit board 12, i.e., the card edge portion 12A. A plurality of board side terminals 14 are aligned at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction on the underside of the card edge portion 12A. Each board side terminal 14 has a flat surface 14A (see FIG. 5) that is conductive.

The connector 10 includes a housing 22 made of molded resin. The housing 22 has a flat shape that is long in the left-right direction. The housing 22 defines one board insertion chamber 24 that opens at the top of its front surface and extends in the front-rear direction, and multiple terminal chambers 26 that extend in the front-rear direction below the board insertion chamber 24. The multiple terminal chambers 26 are aligned at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction according to the arrangement of the board-side terminals 14. Each terminal chamber 26 has a portion that communicates with the board insertion chamber 24 (see Figure 3) via a communication portion 28.

A connector terminal (terminal member) 38 electrically connected to the coated cable 36 is attached to each terminal chamber 26. Each connector terminal 38 is a pressed product formed by bending a metal plate.

As shown in Figures 2 to 5, the connector terminal 38 includes a housing 40 that forms the terminal body, and a core barrel 44 and a covering barrel 46 that are formed at the rear of the housing 40. The core 36A of the covered cable 36 is crimped to the core barrel 44, and the covering 36B of the covered cable 36 is crimped to the covering barrel 46.

The housing 40 has a rectangular bottom wall 48 extending in the front-rear direction and side walls 50 rising from the left and right side edges of the bottom wall 48, and has a groove-shaped cross section that opens upward. As shown in FIG. 4, the connector terminal 38 has a front end 52A connected to the bottom wall 48, and a contact carrying piece 52 that can be elastically bent and deformed in the vertical direction and extends rearward along the bottom wall 48 from the front end 52A. The contact carrying piece 52 will be described in detail later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the housing 40 has stabilizer pieces 54 extending downward from three points on the front and rear of the lower part of each side wall 50. When the connector terminal 38 is inserted into the terminal chamber 26, the stabilizer pieces 54 slide on the guide surface 56 extending in the front-rear direction at the bottom of the terminal chamber 26, stabilizing the position of the connector terminal 38 during insertion. When the printed circuit board 12 is inserted, a spring contact pressure is generated in the contact support piece 52, and a reaction force is generated that presses the connector terminal 38 toward the guide surface 56. The stabilizer pieces 54 also bear the reaction force (load) when the printed circuit board 12 is inserted. The left and right stabilizer pieces 54 have different extension dimensions in the up-down direction, and the heights of the left and right guide surfaces 56 are also different accordingly. This structure prevents the connector terminal 38 from being erroneously assembled into the terminal chamber 26.

As shown in FIG. 3, each connector terminal 38 is restricted from moving forward in the terminal chamber 26 by the front end piece 41 of the housing 40 hitting the front wall 58 of the housing 22 provided at the front of the corresponding terminal chamber 26.

As shown in FIG. 3, the housing 22 has a lance piece 60 extending forward from the lower part of the housing 22. The lance piece 60 is provided for each terminal chamber 26, and each has a free end (front end) 60A that enters the corresponding terminal chamber 26. The free end 60A of each lance piece 60 hits the front edge 62A of an opening 62 formed in the bottom wall 48 of the corresponding connector terminal 38, thereby preventing the connector terminal 38 from slipping out rearward from the terminal chamber 26.

As shown in FIG. 3, the housing 22 has an opening 63 that opens from the top toward the terminal chamber 26. A retainer 64 fits into the opening 63. The retainer 64 has a protrusion 66 that corresponds to each terminal chamber 26. The front end surface 66A of the protrusion 66 abuts against the rear end surface 68A of the retainer engagement portion 68 formed on the connector terminal 38, thereby preventing the connector terminal 38 from slipping out of the terminal chamber 26 from the rear.

Next, the details of the contact carrying piece 52 will be described later with reference to FIG. 4. The contact carrying piece 52 is a bent product, and is continuous with a lower piece 70 extending rearward and upward from the front end 52A, a curved piece 72 extending forward and upward from the rear end of the lower piece 70 by bending 180 degrees, and an upper piece 74 extending forward and downward from the upper end of the curved piece 72. The lower piece 70 has a smaller left-right width than the curved piece 72 and the upper piece 74. The upper piece 74 includes a first contact portion 76 protruding upward on the proximal side relative to the curved piece 72 and a second contact portion 78 protruding upward on the distal side relative to the curved piece 72. In other words, the first contact portion 76 is located near the curved piece 72 and near the free end (front end) of the upper piece 74 of the second contact portion 78. The first contact portion 76 and the second contact portion 78 are formed by embossing. The curved piece 72 does not necessarily have to be curved 180 degrees, but may be curved at an angle other than 180 degrees.

The upper piece 74 has support pieces 80 that protrude outward from each of the left and right edges at an intermediate portion 74A between the first contact portion 76 and the second contact portion 78. The support pieces 80 are swingably engaged with openings 82 formed in the corresponding side walls 50. As a result, the upper piece 74 is supported so as to be swingable in a substantially vertical direction from the side walls 50, with the engagement portion between the support pieces 80 and the openings 82 as a fulcrum. In the following description, the engagement portion between the support pieces 80 provided at the intermediate portion 74A of the upper piece 74 and the openings 82 may be referred to as fulcrum A.

When the first contact portion 76 of the contact support piece 52 is pressed downward together with the curved piece 72 by contacting the surface 14A of the board side terminal 14, the upper piece 74 tilts clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4 with the engagement portion between the support piece 80 and the opening 82 as a fulcrum, so that the second contact portion 78 is displaced upward toward the board side terminal 14 and positioned above the housing 40.

More specifically, the first contact portion 76 is located above (outside) the upper edge of the housing 40 in a free state where it is not in contact with the surface 14A of the board-side terminal 14, and moves toward the inside of the housing 40 due to the elastic deformation of the contact carrying piece 52 when it is pressed down by contact with the surface 14A of the board-side terminal 14. The second contact portion 78 is located inside the housing 40 in a free state where the first contact portion 76 is not in contact with the surface 14A of the board-side terminal 14, and moves upward outward from the housing 40 as the first contact portion 76 moves downward toward the inside of the housing 40, and is located above the upper edge of the housing 40.

As described above, the second contact portion 78 is located inside the housing 40 in the free state and is protected by the housing 40, so that external forces are less likely to be applied to the second contact portion 78, and deformation of the second contact portion 78 is suppressed. This improves the reliability of the conductive connection between the second contact portion 78 and the board-side terminal 14.

The upper piece 74 is supported by the side wall 50 so that it can swing in a generally vertical direction with the engagement between the support piece 80 and the opening 82 as fulcrum A, so that the movement of the contact support piece 52, in which the second contact portion 78 moves upward in response to the downward movement of the first contact portion 76, is reliably performed.

The bottom wall 48 has a recess 84 in the area facing the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70, into which the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70 can enter. The recess 84 is formed by coining the thickness of the bottom wall 48 to be thinner than other areas. The middle portion 70A is the lowermost portion that comes closest to the bottom wall 48 when the lower piece 70 is pressed down.

When the lower piece 70 is pressed down by contact with the surface 14A of the board-side terminal 14, the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70 enters the recess 84 as shown in Figs. 6(D) and (E). This increases the stroke of the lower piece 70 from its free state until it contacts the bottom wall 48 by an amount equivalent to the depth of the recess 84. This prevents the connector terminal 38 from becoming larger, and in particular the height dimension of the housing 40 from becoming larger, and suppresses an increase in the operating force required for connector connection (connection between the connector 10 and the printed circuit board 12) caused by the lower piece 70 hitting the bottom, thereby avoiding deterioration of connection operability.

As shown in FIG. 5, the first contact portion 76 has a front surface 76A that abuts against the surface 14A of the board-side terminal 14 when the connector is connected, which is more gently inclined than the opposite rear surface 76B. This reduces the operating force required to connect the connector compared to when the front surface 76A is steeply inclined, avoiding deterioration of connection operability, and making it less likely that the board-side terminal 14 and the first contact portion 76 will be damaged. If there are plating layers on the surfaces of the board-side terminal 14 and the first contact portion 76, scraping (wear and tear) of those plating layers is reduced.

Next, the process of connecting the connector 10 to the printed circuit board 12 will be described with reference to Figures 6(A) to 6(E).

Figure 6 (A) shows the initial connection state in which the tip edge of the board-side terminal 14 of the printed circuit board 12 abuts against the curved piece 72 side of the upper piece 74 of the connector terminal 38, more specifically, the curved piece 72 side of fulcrum A abuts against the middle part of the upper piece 74. In the initial connection state, the curved piece 72 side of the upper piece 74 from fulcrum A is located above the housing 40, and the second contact portion 78 side of the upper piece 74 from fulcrum A is located inside the housing 40, including the second contact portion 78.

When the printed circuit board 12 moves to the right as viewed in FIG. 6 from this initial connection state (insertion movement into the board insertion chamber 24), the upper piece 74 rotates and displaces clockwise as viewed in FIG. 6 about fulcrum A, as shown in FIG. 6(B). As a result, the first contact portion 76 moves downward and the second contact portion 78 moves upward, so that the second contact portion 78 protrudes above the housing 40 and contacts the board-side terminal 14.

Furthermore, as the insertion movement of the printed circuit board 12 into the board insertion chamber 24 progresses, as shown in FIG. 6(C), the lower piece 70 moves downward toward the bottom wall 48 with the curved piece 72 side and the second contact portion 78 abutting the board side terminal 14 from the fulcrum A of the upper piece 74.

Furthermore, as the insertion movement of the printed circuit board 12 into the board insertion chamber 24 progresses, as shown in FIG. 6(D), the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70 enters the recess 84 in the bottom wall 48 and abuts against the bottom surface of the recess 84.

As the insertion movement of the printed circuit board 12 into the board insertion chamber 24 progresses, as shown in FIG. 6(E), the board side terminal 14 comes into contact with the first contact portion 76 and rides up onto the first contact portion 76. This completes the connection between the connector 10 and the printed circuit board 12.

With reference to Figures 7(A)-(E), we will explain how the increase in operating force required to connect the connector due to bottoming out of the lower piece 70 is suppressed compared to the conventional case. Figures 7(A)-(E) show, in the upper row, the process of connecting the connector according to this embodiment to a printed circuit board, and in the lower row, the process of connecting a conventional connector that does not have a recess 84 to a printed circuit board, in comparison with each other. Note that parts of the conventional connector that correspond to the connector according to this embodiment will be described with the same reference numerals as the connector according to this embodiment. The illustrations in the upper row (A)-(E) of Figure 7 are the same as the illustrations in Figures 6(A)-(E).

In the initial connection state shown in Figures 7(A) and (B), where the amount of movement of the printed circuit board 12 relative to the connector terminal 38 to the right as viewed in Figure 7 (referred to as connection movement in the following explanation) is small, there is no difference between this embodiment and the conventional example in terms of elastic deformation of the contact support piece 52 of the connector terminal 38.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the initial state where the printed circuit board 12 is merely in contact with the contact carrying piece 52 and the contact carrying piece 52 is not elastically deformed, the inclination angle of the straight portion of the upper piece 74 of the contact carrying piece 52 on the first contact portion 76 side relative to the upper edge of the housing 40 in the side view is the same as the angle θa in this embodiment and the angle θb in the conventional example.

When the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 progresses and reaches the state shown in FIG. 7(C), in the conventional example, bottoming occurs, with the lower piece 70 of the contact carrying piece 52 abutting against the bottom wall 48 of the housing 40. After bottoming, the force required for elastic deformation of the contact carrying piece 52 in the vertical direction increases compared to before bottoming, and resistance to the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 after the bottoming state increases. In response to this increase in resistance, the operating force required to connect and move the printed circuit board 12 increases.

In contrast, in this embodiment, the recess 84 is provided, so that the lower piece 70 of the contact carrying piece 52 does not bottom out and abut against the bottom wall 48 of the housing 40 at the same connection movement position of the printed circuit board 12 as the connection movement position at which bottoming occurred in the conventional example.

Note that the inclination angle at this time is the same in this embodiment (angle θc) as in the conventional example (angle θd).

In the conventional example, from the state shown in FIG. 7(C) onward, the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 proceeds in a bottomed-out state in which the lower piece 70 of the contact carrying piece 52 abuts against the bottom wall 48 of the housing 40, as shown in FIGS. 7(D)-(E), so a large operating force is required to connect and move the printed circuit board 12.

In this embodiment, when the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 progresses from the state shown in FIG. 7(C) to the state shown in FIG. 7(D), the lower piece 70 of the contact support piece 52 bottoms out and abuts against the recess 84. In this embodiment, the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 progresses in a bottomed out state until the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 is completed as shown in FIG. 7(E). In this embodiment, the inclination angle at which the bottomed out state begins is angle θe, which is smaller than angle θc (= θd), and the rising inclination of the straight portion on the first contact portion 76 side of the fulcrum A of the upper piece 74 is gentler than when it is angle θc, so that the increase in the operating force required for the connection movement of the printed circuit board 12 in the bottomed out state is reduced compared to the conventional example.

Next, the manufacturing method of the connector terminal 38 will be described with reference to Figures 8 and 9.

As shown in FIG. 8, the connector terminal 38 is produced in a punching process in which a single sheet of material is punched into an unfolded shape that includes the entire connector terminal 38 to produce a punched plate (blank) W, and as shown in FIG. 9, the punched plate W is bent along each of the fold lines a to f to form the connector terminal 38.

The manufacturing process for the connector terminal 38 is explained with reference to Figures 9(A) to (E).

First, as shown in FIG. 9(A), the punched plate W shown in FIG. 7 is produced by punching press processing. An opening 82 is formed in the punched plate W by punching.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9(B), the first contact portion 76 and the second contact portion 78 are formed by embossing, and the recess 84 is formed by coining.

Next, as shown in Figures 9(B) and (C), the front end piece 41 and the retainer engagement portion 68 are bent along the fold lines a and b.

Next, as shown in Figures 9(C) and (D), the contact support piece 52 is bent along the bend lines c, d, and f.

Next, as shown in Figures 9(D) and (E), the side wall 50 is bent along the bend line g. This bend causes the support piece 80 of the contact carrying piece 52 to engage with the opening 82 of the side wall 50. This completes the connector terminal 38.

Next, another embodiment of the connector terminal 38 will be described with reference to Figure 10. Note that in Figure 10, parts corresponding to those in Figure 4 are given the same reference numerals as those in Figure 4, and their description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the recess 86, which corresponds to the recess 84 described above, is made of a material (punched plate W) that includes a stepped portion. The rest is the same as in the above-mentioned embodiment. As a result, the same action and effect as in the above-mentioned embodiment can be obtained in this embodiment.

Next, another embodiment of the connector terminal 38 will be described with reference to Figure 12. Note that in Figure 12, parts corresponding to those in Figure 4 are given the same reference numerals as those in Figure 4, and their description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, instead of the recess 84 described above, an opening 88 is formed in the bottom wall 48 into which the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70 can enter. As shown in FIG. 13, the opening 88 is formed in the material (punch plate W) by punching in the same process as the punching process.

In this embodiment, the middle portion 70A of the lower piece 70 can pass up and down through the opening 88, and the stroke from when the lower piece 70 is free to when it abuts against the bottom wall 48 is even larger than when the recesses 84, 86 are used. This prevents the connector terminal 38 from becoming larger, and prevents an increase in the operating force required to connect the connector due to the lower piece 70 hitting the bottom, thereby avoiding a deterioration in connection operability.

Although the specific embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment or modified example, and can be modified in a wide range of ways. For example, the contact support piece 52 is not limited to a type in which the front end 52A is formed by folding back from the bottom wall 48, but may be a type bent from one side wall 50 of the housing 40 onto the bottom wall 48, as in the connector terminal shown in Patent Publication No. 6198365, and may extend from the front end 52A located in front of the bottom wall 48 toward the rear of the bottom wall 48. The connector terminal 38 can also be applied to a double-sided card edge type connector.

10: Connector 12: Printed circuit board 12A: Card edge portion 14: Board side terminal 14A: Surface 16A: Tip piece 18A: Tip piece 20A: Tip piece 22: Housing 24: Board insertion chamber 24A: Tip piece 26: Terminal chamber 28: Communication portion 32: Protruding piece 34: Spring piece 36: Covered cable 36A: Core wire 36B: Covering portion 38: Connector terminal 40: Housing 41: Front end piece 44: Core wire barrel 46: Covering portion barrel 48: Bottom wall 50: Side wall 52: Contact carrying piece 52A: Front end 54: Stabilizer piece 56: Guide surface 58: Front wall 60: Lance piece 60A: Free end 62: Opening 62A: Front edge 63: Opening 64: Retainer 66 : Protruding piece 66A : Front end face 68 : Retainer engaging part 68A : Rear end face 70 : Lower piece 70A : Intermediate part 72 : Curved piece 74 : Upper piece 74A : Intermediate part 76 : First contact part 76A : Front face 76B : Rear face 78 : Second contact part 80 : Support piece 82 : Opening 84 : Recessed part 86 : Recess 88 : Opening A : Fulcrum W : Punching plate (material)

Claims (4)

A connector terminal that is conductively connected to a conductive surface provided on a board-side terminal,
A bottom wall extending in the front-rear direction;
side walls extending from the left and right side edges of the bottom wall;
a contact carrying piece extending from a front end located on the front side of the bottom wall toward a rear end of the bottom wall and elastically bendable and deformable in a vertical direction;
The contact carrying piece is
A lower piece extending rearward and upward from the front end;
A curved piece extending forward and upward from a rear end of the lower piece;
and an upper piece extending forward and downward from an upper end of the curved piece,
the upper piece includes a first contact portion protruding upward on a proximal side relative to the curved piece and a second contact portion protruding upward on a distal side relative to the curved piece,
the upper piece has an engagement portion that is pivotably engaged with the side wall at an intermediate portion between the first contact portion and the second contact portion,
the contact support piece is configured such that, when the first contact portion is pressed down by abutment with the board-side terminal, the second contact portion is displaced upward toward the board-side terminal by the swing of the upper piece about the engagement portion as a fulcrum, and the lower piece is moved downward toward the bottom wall,
the bottom wall has a recess or an opening in a portion facing the lower piece, into which the lower piece can enter as the lower piece moves downward;
A connector terminal in which the recess or the opening includes a portion located farther from the front end of the bottom wall than the engagement portion. A housing having an upwardly opening groove-shaped cross section is formed including the bottom wall and the side wall,
the first contact portion is located outside the housing in a free state in which it is not in contact with the board-side terminal, and moves toward the inside of the housing due to elastic deformation of the contact carrying piece in a state in which it is pressed down by contact with the board-side terminal,
The connector terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the second contact portion is located within the housing in the free state, and moves outward from the housing as the first contact portion moves toward the inside of the housing. 3. The connector terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the lower piece is folded back from the front end of the bottom wall and is an integral member with the bottom wall. 4. The connector terminal according to claim 1, wherein said bottom wall, said side wall and said contact-carrying piece are formed as a single piece by press molding.

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