Ribbon cable connector

Claim 1

A multi-contact electrical connector of the type having two rows of electrical contact terminals and intended to be installed on the end portion of a flat multi-conductor cable, said connector comprising a dielectric body having a conductor receiving end, a mating end, and oppositely facing first and second sidewalls extending from said conductor receiving end to said mating end, the improvement comprising: a plurality of terminal receiving cavities in said oppositely directed sidewalls, each said cavity having one of said terminals therein, a plurality of entries in said conductor receiving end, some of said entries communicating with said first sidewall and other of said entries communicating with said second sidewalls, all entries having a conductor receiving portion which lies along a common straight line extending the length of the conductor receiving end of the dielectric body, said straight line defining the center line of a straight path, said path having a greater width than the thickness of said conductors, whereby said conductors can be moved into the entries in a coplanar array, a plurality of guide grooves in said oppositely directed sidewalls, each said guide groove communicating between one of said entries and one of said terminal receiving cavities, whereby, upon moving each conductor in said multi-conductor cable into one of said entries some of said conductors will be biased to said first sidewall and other of said conductors will be biased to said second sidewall, and upon aligning said conductors into said conductor guide grooves, each said conductor will communicate with a terminal receiving cavity for termination to an electrical terminal therein.