Method for manufacturing contact terminal, contact terminal manufacturing apparatus, and contact terminal

An apparatus for manufacturing a contact terminal including a contact portion that slides against a surface of a conductive contact plate, the manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a die plate including a plurality of die cavities arranged along a feeding direction of a metal plate that forms the contact terminal, wherein the die cavities are arranged from one having a larger diameter than the contact portion to one having the same diameter as the contact portion so that the diameter gradually decreases, and the die cavities have the same depth or a depth that gradually decreases in the feeding direction;
• a plurality of punches that can respectively be fitted into the die cavities to cooperate with the die cavities and perform a pressing process on the metal plate arranged between the punches and the die cavities, wherein
• the one of the die cavities having the largest diameter is used to perform a drawing process that forms a projection in the metal plate, wherein the projection projects in a thicknesswise direction of the metal plate, and
• the contact portion is formed from the projection by performing a pressing process that gradually decreases the diameter of the projection with the remaining die cavities from those having larger diameters.