Feed mechanism in a tool for terminating ribbon cable to a connector

摘要

A tool is disclosed for terminating conductors of a ribbon cable to insulation displacement contacts of terminals that are partially assembled to a connector housing. After termination of all of the terminals the assembly is removed from the tool and the entire strip of terminals is fully inserted into the connector housing and the carrier strip removed and discarded. The tool includes a terminal strip feed mechanism that is partially contained in the base of the tool that feeds both the strip of terminals and the ribbon cable so that it does not interfere with movement of the ribbon cable. The feed mechanism is coupled to the ram so that energy is stored during the termination stroke of the ram which is subsequently used during the return stroke to drive the feed mechanism in advancing the strip of terminals and ribbon cable into position for terminating the next conductor.