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 (11) which retains a nut (12) in alignment with an aperture in the flat stab. The spring clip (11) is fabricated from a strip of resilient electrically conductive material and has a top wall (14) with a central aperture (22), side walls (16) extending downward from the top wall and having slots (26) therein, and outwardly projecting flanges (30) on the bottom edge of each of the side walls. A square nut (12) is retained in the spring clip (11) by lateral projections (34) on the nut engaged in the slots (26) in the side walls (16) with the tapped hole (38) in the nut aligned with the aperture in the top wall of the clip. The fastener assembly (10) 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 (56) is passed through the apertures in the top wall and the flat stab engages the nut to secure a conductor (62) 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. <IMAGE>