Forked electrical contact pair with elastic tail

An electrical contact pair comprising:

• a male fork contact that includes a male fork base, and a pair of male fork tines emerging from the male fork base;
• and
• a female fork contact that includes a female fork base, and a pair of female fork tines emerging from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have sloped outer surfaces sloping toward a centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the male fork tines away from the male fork base;
• wherein the female fork tines have sloped inner surfaces sloping away from the centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the female fork tines away from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines and the female fork tines both deflect as the male fork tines are inserted into the female fork tines;
• and
• wherein the male fork tines have respective outward protrusions, with curved outer surfaces, that protrude outward of the sloped outer surfaces, such that the outward protrusions make contact with the sloped inner surfaces of the female fork tines during engagement of the contacts.

An electrical contact pair comprising:

• a male fork contact that includes a male fork base, and a pair of male fork tines emerging from the male fork base;
• and
• a female fork contact that includes a female fork base, and a pair of female fork tines emerging from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have sloped outer surfaces sloping toward a centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the male fork tines away from the male fork base;
• wherein the female fork tines have sloped inner surfaces sloping away from the centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the female fork tines away from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have respective outward protrusions, with curved outer surfaces, that protrude outward of the sloped outer surfaces, such that the outward protrusions make contact with the sloped inner surfaces of the female fork tines during engagement of the contacts;
• wherein the female fork tines define inward-facing receptacle recesses that receive the outward protrusions when the contacts are fully engaged;
• wherein the inward-facing receptacle recesses have curved surfaces;
• and
• wherein the curved surfaces of the inward-facing receptacle recesses have a radius of curvature that is smaller than a radius of curvature of the outward protrusions, such that when the contacts are engaged each of the outward protrusions makes contact at multiple contact points with a corresponding of the inward-facing receptacle recesses.

An electrical contact pair comprising:

• a male fork contact that includes a male fork base, and a pair of male fork tines emerging from the male fork base;
• and
• a female fork contact that includes a female fork base, and a pair of female fork tines emerging from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have sloped outer surfaces sloping toward a centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the male fork tines away from the male fork base;
• wherein the female fork tines have sloped inner surfaces sloping away from the centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the female fork tines away from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines and the female fork tines both deflect as the male fork tines are inserted into the female fork tines;
• and
• wherein the female fork tines have respective inward protrusions, with curved inner surfaces, that protrude inward of the sloped inward surfaces, such that the inward protrusions make contact with the sloped outer surfaces of the male fork tines during engagement of the contacts.

An electrical contact pair comprising:

• a male fork contact that includes a male fork base, and a pair of male fork tines emerging from the male fork base;
• and
• a female fork contact that includes a female fork base, and a pair of female fork tines emerging from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have sloped outer surfaces sloping toward a centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the male fork tines away from the male fork base;
• wherein the female fork tines have sloped inner surfaces sloping away from the centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the female fork tines away from the female fork base;
• wherein the female fork tines have respective inward protrusions, with curved inner surfaces, that protrude inward of the sloped inward surfaces, such that the inward protrusions make contact with the sloped outer surfaces of the male fork tines during engagement of the contacts;
• and
• wherein the inward protrusions are located at distal ends of the female fork tines, further from the female fork base than the sloped inner surfaces.

An electrical contact pair comprising:

• a male fork contact that includes a male fork base, and a pair of male fork tines emerging from the male fork base;
• and
• a female fork contact that includes a female fork base, and a pair of female fork tines emerging from the female fork base;
• wherein the male fork tines have sloped outer surfaces sloping toward a centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the male fork tines away from the male fork base;
• and
• wherein the female fork tines have sloped inner surfaces sloping away from the centerline of the contact pair in a direction along the female fork tines away from the female fork base;
• further comprising:
• an additional male fork contact stacked with the male fork contact to form a stacked male fork contact, with the male fork contact and the additional male contact having an identical configuration of male fork tines;
• and
• an additional female fork contact stacked with the female fork contact to form a stacked female fork contact, with the female fork contact and the additional female contact having an identical configuration of female fork tines;
• wherein one of the stacked contacts includes a tail which defines an eye between tail portions of the contacts of the one of the stacked contacts;
• wherein the tail portions being on an opposite side of the one of the stacked contacts from the tines of the one of the stacked contacts;
• wherein the eye being defined by at least one of the tail portions being bowed away from the other of the tail portions;
• and
• wherein the male fork contact and the female fork contact share a common plane.