Electrical contact for receiving two conductors

Claim 1

In a ground terminal for terminating an associated pair of small diameter ground conductor wires of tri-lead electrical cable means without substantially distorting the wires, for a multi-terminal electrical connector for a plurality of signal and associated ground conductor wires to be applied to electrical cable means for use in transmitting electrical signals with high reliability and uniformity, where the ground terminal includes a forward contact section and a terminating section axially rearwardly therefrom, the improvement comprising said terminating section including a spaced pair of discrete conductor-receiving slots coextending forwardly substantially in parallel from a rearward end thereof, the spacing of centers of said slots being about equal to the spacing of said associated ground conductor wires in said tri-lead electrical cable means, whereby said wires are terminable to said ground terminal substantially axially forwardly of the portions thereof within the cable means insulation, and each said slot having a width at at least one axial location selected to be just less than a respective said conductor wire and defined by inside surface portions of opposing side walls to hold a said conductor wire in interference fit therein at said at least one axial location to be terminated by laser welding, whereby each said ground conductor wire is weldable to said ground terminal by a discrete laser weld joint needing to be only slightly wider than a corresponding said slot thereby requiring less energy to perform the laser welding and reducing the risk of damaging each said wire.