Continuous electronic stamping with offset carrier

An electrical assembly comprising:

• a) a housing having an electrically-insulating portion,
• b) a plurality of spaced electrically-conductive SMT contacts having ends and mounted in the electrically-insulating housing portion such that they can be electrically separated, each of the contacts comprising a stamped member having one end projecting externally of the housing and an opposite end, said one end of each of the contacts having a flat narrow edge adapted for soldering to a substrate, each of said contacts having flanking carrier regions extending sideways and located substantially in the plane of said one end and at a position offset from and spaced away both from the said one end and the said opposite end but being closer to the said one end than to the said opposite end, said carrier regions having severed ends extending generally transverse to the flat edge of its contact, c) a coating of a solderable material over the flat narrow edge of each contact, the cut ends of the carrier regions being free of the solderable material coating, d) the flat edges of all of the contacts extending generally in the same plane whereby the assembly can be self-supported by the plurality of contact flat edges in butt-edge contact on a common substrate surface and all of the contact edges can be soldered by surface mounting to form butt joints on the same substrate surface without the offset carrier regions contacting the substrate surface to minimize the assembly footprint.

An electrical system comprising:

• a) a substrate having electrically-conductive areas on a surface,
• b) an assembly surface mounted on the substrate surface, said assembly comprising:
• i) a housing having an electrically-insulating portion,
• ii) a plurality of spaced electrically-conductive SMT contacts having ends and mounted in the electrically-insulating housing portion such that they can be electrically separated if desired, each of the contacts comprising a stamped member having one end projecting externally of the housing and an opposite end, said one end of each of the contacts having a flat narrow edge adapted for soldering to the substrate surface, each of said contacts having flanking carrier regions having severed ends extending sideways and located generally in the plane of and at a position offset from and spaced away both from the said one end and the said opposite end,
• iii) a coating of a solderable material on at least the flat narrow edges of the contacts, the severed ends of the carrier regions being free of the coating,
• iv) the flat edges of all of the contacts extending generally in the same plane and being soldered by surface mounting to the electrically-conductive areas of the substrate surface without the offset carrier regions contacting the substrate surface to minimize the assembly footprint on the substrate.