Electrical contact

Abstract

An electrical contact formed from a plurality of interlaced and annealed wires by weaving or braiding the wires together to form a mesh, annealing the mesh, and cutting the an-nealed mesh so as to form a plurality of individual electrical con-tacts. A method for forming a precursor material for use in man-ufacturing an electrical contact is also provided that includes ma-nipulating a plurality of wires so as to interlace the wires into a unitary structure. The unitary structure is then annealed. An electrical contact may then be formed from the precursor mate-rial by elastically rolling a portion of the unitary structure so as to form a tube, annealing the tube, and then cutting the unitary struc-ture so as to release the tube thereby to form an electrical contact. An electrical contact may also be formed by folding a portion of the unitary structure so as to form one or more pleats, annealing the pleated unitary structure, and then cutting the pleated unitary structure so as to release one or more electrical contacts. The pre-cursor material may also be formed by photo-etching a sheet of conductive material so as to form a mesh, and then annealing the mesh. A connector system may be formed including a housing defining a plurality of openings that are each filled with an elec-trical contact comprising a plurality of interlaced and annealed wires that have been previously either rolled or pleated.

1 . An electrical contact comprising a plurality of interlaced, annealed, and unsupported wires.  
   
   
       2 . An electrical contact according to  claim 1  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise a woven and annealed structure that provides a plurality of individual beam-sections.  
   
   
       3 . An electrical contact according to  claim 1  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise at least three discrete wires that have been manipulated together so as to interlace them to form a unitary structure.  
   
   
       4 . An electrical contact according to  claim 1  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise eight discrete wires that have been manipulated together so as to interlace them to form a unitary structure.  
   
   
       5 . An electrical contact according to  claim 1  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise at least three discrete wires that have been manipulated together so as to interlace them to form a unitary tubular structure without a central support structure around which said wires are wound.  
   
   
       6 . An electrical contact according to  claim 1  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise at least three discrete wires that have been manipulated together so as to interlace them to form a unitary tubular structure without at least one of an outer and inner support structure.  
   
   
       7 . An electrical contact according to  claim 4  wherein each of said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise eight discrete wires that have been helically manipulated together so as to interlace them to form a unitary structure.  
   
   
       8 . An electrical contact according to  claim 7  wherein each of said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires define a plurality of intersection/overlap points.  
   
   
       9 . An electrical contact according to  claim 8  wherein the portions of each wire that define each of said intersection/overlap points are movable relative to one another.  
   
   
       10 . An electrical contact according to  claim 8  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise a strain relief at said plurality of intersection/overlap points.  
   
   
       11 . An electrical contact according to  claim 8  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise at least one of a copper alloy and stainless steel.  
   
   
       12 . An electrical contact according to  claim 8  wherein said plurality of interlaced and annealed wires comprise gaps between adjacent ones of said wires.  
   
   
       13 . An electrical contact formed by weaving a plurality of wires together to form a substantially elastic mesh, annealing the woven mesh, and cutting said woven, annealed mesh so as to form a plurality of individual electrical contacts.  
   
   
       14 . An electrical contact formed in accordance to  claim 13  wherein said woven mesh is annealed at a temperature in the range from about 300° C. to about 1200° C.  
   
   
       15 . An electrical contact formed in accordance to  claim 13  wherein said woven mesh is annealed at a temperature of about 550° C.  
   
   
       16 . A connector system comprising, in combination: 
 a housing defining a plurality of openings; and    an electrical contact comprising a plurality of interlaced, annealed and unsupported wires disposed in each of said openings.    
   
   
       17 . An electrical contact comprising a plurality of interlaced and annealed wires arranged in a unitary mesh having a plurality of pleats.  
   
   
       18 . An electrical contact according to  claim 17  wherein said pleats comprise a plurality of troughs and ridges, and a contact edge defined along a perimeter of said pleats.  
   
   
       19 . A connector system comprising, in combination: 
 a housing defining a plurality of openings; and    an electrical contact comprising a plurality of interlaced and annealed wires arranged in a unitary mesh having at least one pleat and disposed in each of said openings.    
   
   
       20 . A connector system according to  claim 19  wherein said unitary mesh comprises a plurality of pleats.  
   
   
       21 . A method for forming a precursor material for use in manufacturing an electrical contact comprising: 
 manipulating a plurality of wires so as to interlace said wires into a unitary structure; and    annealing said unitary structure.    
   
   
       22 . A method according to  claim 21  wherein said unitary structure is rolled and cut so as to form at least one electrical contact.  
   
   
       23 . A method according to  claim 21  wherein said unitary structure is pleated and cut so as to form a plurality of pleated electrical contacts.  
   
   
       24 . A method of forming an electrical contact comprising: 
 elastically manipulating a plurality of wires so as to interlace said wires into a unitary structure;    rolling a portion of said unitary structure so as to form a tube;    annealing said rolled unitary structure; and    cutting said unitary structure so as to release said tube thereby to form a first electrical contact.    
   
   
       25 . A method of forming an electrical contact according to  claim 22  wherein said rolling of a portion of said unitary structure so as to form a tube and said cutting of said unitary structure so as to release said tube is repeated so as to form a plurality of electrical contacts.  
   
   
       26 . A method for forming a precursor material for use in manufacturing an electrical contact comprising: 
 photo-etching a sheet of conductive material so as to form a mesh    rolling a portion of said mesh so as to form a tube; and    annealing said rolled mesh.    
   
   
       27 . A method according to  claim 26  wherein said mesh is rolled and cut so as to form at least one electrical contact.  
   
   
       28 . A method according to  claim 26  wherein said mesh is pleated and cut so as to form a plurality of pleated electrical contacts.  
   
   
       29 . An electrical contact formed by the method of  claim 26 .  
   
   
       30 . An electrical contact according to  claim 29  having an array of different size openings defined between intersecting beams.  
   
   
       31 . An electrical contact formed by the method of  claim 24 .  
   
   
       32 . An electrical contact formed by the method of  claim 26  comprising a plurality of overlapping layers of wires.  
   
   
       33 . An electrical contact comprising a photo-etched mesh including an array of intersecting annealed beams defining an array of rhomboidally shaped openings.  
   
   
       34 . An electrical contact according to  claim 33  having an array of different size rhomboidally shaped openings defined between intersecting annealed beams.  
   
   
       35 . A connector system comprising, in combination: 
 a housing defining a plurality of openings; and    a photo-etched mesh including an array of intersecting annealed beams defining an array of rhomboidally shaped openings.