Electrical component package for interconnection between plug and socket connectors

Claim 1

An electrical component package for interconnection between matable plug and socket connectors having male and female terminals of mating configuration, said package comprising a connector body of dielectric material having a plug portion at an end thereof and a socket portion at an opposite end thereof, said plug portion, and said socket portion being adapted to be connected respectively with a socket connector and a plug connector which is matable with the socket connector, said connector body having a pair of laterally spaced terminal cavities open at an end thereof and communicating with a common cavity which is open at an opposite end thereof, a pair of hermaphroditic terminals each having an elongated generally flat body having box-like female and male blade contacts of mating configuration formed on opposite longitudinal ends thereof which are matable respectively with male and female terminals of the socket and plug connectors, said male blade contact having a raised central platform which extends into the median portion of the flat body to stiffen the terminal and increase the effective thickness of the male blade contact when inserted upside-down into a female terminal shaped like the female contact, and an electrical component having a pair of wire leads connected respectively with the pair of hermaphroditic terminals at a lateral extension of the median portion of the elongated generally flat body, to form a subassembly which is insertable into the connector body via the common cavity, each of said pair of hermaphroditic terminals having one contact latched in a respective one of said pair of laterally spaced terminal cavities and positioning the other contact and the electrical component in the common cavity.