1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a fastener which fastens a D-Sub electrical connector to a mated D-Sub electrical connector by threadedly engaging with a mated bolt, and a fastener obtained by such a method.
2. The Prior Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional fastener 8 for connecting two D-Sub connectors together by threadedly engaging with a mated bolt has a rectangular base 80 and a sleeve 81 projecting from a middle portion of the base 80. The sleeve 81 defines a flat distal edge 810 which is subject to a riveting operation and an internal thread 811 below the distal edge 810. A D-Sub connector 9 has a dielectric housing 90 formed with a front face 92 for engaging with a mated connector (not shown) and a flange 94, a metallic shielding 95 fixedly attached to a front face of the flange 94, a board lock 96 fixedly attached to a rear face of the flange 94 and having a leg 962 extending through a horizontal portion of the flange 94 for fixing the connector 9 to a printed circuit board (not shown), and a hole 942 defined through the board lock 96, a vertical portion of the flange 94 and the shielding 95. To mount the fastener 8 to the connector 9, the sleeve 81 of the fastener 8 is extended into the hole 942 to reach a position where the base 80 engages with the board lock 96 and the distal edge 810 of the sleeve 81 projects beyond the shielding 95. Then, a riveting operation is conducted on the distal edge 810 to deform and fixedly engage the fastener 8 with the shielding 95 whereby the fastener 8 is secured to the connector 9. When the connector 9 is connected with a mated connector (not shown), a bolt in the mated connector can extend into the sleeve 81 to threadedly engage with the thread 811 thereby securely engaging the two connectors.
FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows the process for forming the conventional fastener 8 which mainly consists of four steps: (a) primary machining which lathes a metal block to have a shape generally like the fastener 8 but with the sleeve 81 being solid, (b) boring which forms the sleeve by a boring operation, (c) tapping which forms the thread 811 by a tapping tool, and (d) finish machining which provides the accurate size and shape of the fastener 8. Such a process is laborious and produces a lot of waste material resulting in a high manufacturing cost.
Hence, an improved method to produce a fastener is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of the current art.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds