Self-retaining spring clip assembly and an electrical connection incorporating the same

摘要

A terminal connection for a flat stab of an electrical terminal includes a spring clip which retains a nut in alignment with an aperture in the flat stab. The spring clip is fabricated from a strip of resilient electrically conductive material and has a top wall with a central aperture, side walls extending downward from the top wall and having slots therein, and outwardly projecting flanges on the bottom edge of each of the side walls. A square nut is retained in the spring clip by lateral projections on the nut engaged in the slots in the side walls with the tapped hole in the nut aligned with the aperture in the top wall of the clip. The fastener assembly clips onto the end of the flat stab which is in a recess in the electrical terminal, with the stab between the nut and the top wall of the spring clip. The outer edges of the flanges on the spring clip frictionally engage against the opposite sides of the recess in the terminal to retain the spring clip and nut in the terminal until a screw is passed through the apertures in the top wall and the flat stab engages the nut to secure a conductor to the stab. The slots in the side walls of the clip prevent rotation of the nut and provide positive stops which resist loss of the nut through application of excessive axial force to the screw.