Electrical connector and method of manufacturing the same

A method of manufacturing an electrical connector including steps of:

• providing a metallic material in a form of sheet to define a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to each other, the metal material being blanked to form a first terminal assembly and a second terminal assembly, the first terminal assembly and the second terminal assembly being discrete from each other and in a same plane along the first direction, the first terminal assembly including a plurality of first conductive terminals arranged in the second direction, the first conductive terminal comprising a first contact portion and a first tail portion, the plurality of first conductive terminals being connected to each other in the second direction by a transversely extending first contact carrier, the second terminal assembly including a plurality of second conductive terminals arranged in the second direction, the second conductive terminal comprising a second contact portion and a second tail portion, the plurality of second conductive terminals being connected to each other in the second direction by a transversely extending second contact carrier, a third contact carrier is integrally connected, either directly or indirectly, between the first contact carrier and the second contact carrier, one of the first contact carrier, second contact carrier and third contact carrier being connected, either directly or indirectly, with a single fourth contact carrier which comprises a plurality of locating holes for holding the metal material during a later insert-molding process;
• bending the third carrier to have the first terminal assembly and the second terminal assembly positioned with each other in a third direction perpendicular to both said first direction and said second direction;
• and
• applying an insulative housing upon both said first terminal assembly and said second terminal assembly via a single insert-molding process.

An electrical connector derived from a semi-finished product, comprising:

• a first terminal assembly and a second terminal assembly arranged with and spaced from each other in a vertical direction and commonly integrally formed with an insulative housing via a one-shot insert-molding process,
• said first terminal assembly including a plurality of first conductive terminals transversely spaced from each other while originally linked with one another via a transversely extending first contact carrier which originally exists in said semi-finished product while being successively removed from the electrical connector after the insert-molding process;
• said second terminal assembly including a plurality of second conductive terminals transversely spaced from one another while originally linked with one another via a transversely extending second contact carrier which originally exists in said semi-finished product while being successively removed from the electrical connector after the insert-molding process;
• wherein
• said first contact carrier and said second contact carrier are configured to be originally linked indirectly to each other by a longitudinal extending third contact carrier which originally exists in the semi-finished product while being removed after the insert-molding process.