Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-26
2001-11-20
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S760000, C029S758000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317968
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring harness used in automobiles, and a device for protecting the wiring harness. More specifically, the invention concerns a corrugated tube, through which the wiring harness passes and is protected thereby. Such a corrugated tube may have a longitudinal slit along the axial direction. In this construction, the tube is first opened along the slit, a group of electrical wires is loaded through the opening, and the opening is closed. The invention also relates to a device for inserting a group of electrical wires into the corrugated tube, which can create a longitudinal slit in the corrugated tube, insert the group of wires therein, and close and lock the tube at the slit.
2. Description of Background Information
In the prior art wiring harness used in automobiles, the main portion of the harness is placed within a corrugated tube for protection. As shown in
FIG. 1A
, a corrugated tube
1
-—
1
can have a longitudinal slit S along the axial direction; as shown in
FIG. 1C
, the slit portion can have an overlapping zone R in the axial direction. As shown in
FIG. 1B
, a corrugated tube
1
-
2
may be uniform (i.e., no slit).
In the case of the corrugated tube
1
-
2
without a slit, a connector housing (not shown) to be mounted on an end portion cannot pass through the corrugated tube
1
-
2
. Therefore, the electrical wires must first be inserted through the corrugated tube
1
-
2
, whereupon the connector housing is then mounted on the end portion of the wires as a final step. A such, the end portion of each electrical wire cannot be loaded into the connector housing by an automatic process. This prevents automating the mounting process of the wiring harness.
For the corrugated tube
1
-—
1
with a slit, the group of electrical wires are loaded simply by opening the tube at the slits. The connector housing can thus be connected to the group of electrical wires beforehand. Accordingly, the end portion can be inserted into the connector housing by automation. However, when the corrugated tube
1
-—
1
is bent as shown in
FIG. 2
, the slit S may open. It is therefore necessary to seal the slit after the electrical wires are inserted into the tube. To this end, tape can be wound around the outer circular surface of the tube
1
-—
1
. However, this tape-winding step is cumbersome, increasing manufacturing time and costs. This step is also necessary for the corrugated tube
1
-
2
with an overlapping slit shown in FIG.
1
C.
Referring now to
FIG. 3
, a prior art device
3
inserts the electrical wires into the above-mentioned tubes
1
-—
1
or
1
-
3
with a slits. The electrical wires W are inserted initially through the device
3
. Device
3
open's slits and installs wires W into the corrugated tube
1
as device
3
moves down the length of the tube. In this construction, the connector housing C can be connected beforehand to the wire end portion.
However, device
3
only serves to pass the wires W into the corrugated tube, and does. not otherwise obviate the need for tape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome this problem, longitudinal zones flanking the slit may be defined on the outer surface of the tube. Peak portions in those zones may be provided with corresponding female and male locking portions extending from the slit in the circumferential direction. For example, these female and male portions may use sequential concave and convex structures, viewed from the axial direction of the tube. This configuration extends from the slit side along the circumferential direction of the tube. When these male and female configurations are superposed, the tube is locked.
When such a tube is used, there is no need to close the slit with tape. However, after the wires are installed, a supplementary step of superposing the female and male locking portions must be performed.
When the locking portions are installed on all the peak portions along the entire length of the corrugated tube, locking work is rather cumbersome. Further, when the electrical wires are tightly contained in the tube, a strong outward force is exerted on the slit of the tube. A correspondingly strong force is therefore needed to superpose the female and male locking portions. Such a locking step can be extremely difficult for the assembly workers. Moreover, after the electrical wires are installed through the tube, the tube must be locked during a separate step. This procedure requires a two-step operation (i.e., installation followed by locking), increasing manufacturing time and associated costs.
To enable automation of the operation of inserting the wire end portion into the connector housing, a corrugated tube preferably has a slit. The slit may be designed such that it can be closed easily. There is therefore no need for the application of tape. Further, it is desirable to combine the loading of the electrical wires into the tube and the automatic locking of the tube thereafter into a single step.
To this end, there is provided a corrugated tube for protecting a wiring harness including of a plurality of electrical wires. The tube extends in a longitudinal direction and has an outer surface with alternating peak and trough sections formed along the longitudinal direction thereof The tube has a longitudinal slit with two sections facing each other across the slit. Each section has a sequential concave and convex shaped cross sections extending from the slit along the circumference of the tube defining female and male locking portions, respectively. The male locking portion fits into the female locking portion, when locked, from the inside of the tube, so that the concave and convex configurations of the malelocking portion are securely superposed with the corresponding concave and convex configurations of the female locking portion to close and lock the slit.
In this corrugated tube, the female locking portion is wider in the longitude direction of the tube that than the male locking portion.
The female locking portion may have sequential convex, concave and convex shapes forming a series of a successive L-shapes extending from the slit along the circumference of the tube. The male locking portion has sequential concave and convex shapes forming; a series of successive V-shapes extending from the slit along the circumference of the tube. The plurality of electrical wires are loaded by opening the slit, and the slit is subsequently closed and locked by superposing the male and female locking portions.
There is also provided a method of automatically loading and locking a plurality of electrical wires into a corrugated tube. A device is prepared having tubular guiding unit and a tubular locking unit. The guiding At has a top projection part, a bottom slit-opening part and a slant tube part therebetween, and first and second ends, the slant tube part being obliquely arranged from the top projection part at the first end towards the bottom slit-opening part at the second end. The locking unit has a first and a second end, and accommodates the corrugated tube and locks the female and male locking portions. The second end of the tubular guiding unit and the first end of the tubular locking unit are longitudinally connected, such that the slant tube part and the tubular locking unit are inclined relative to each other. The plurality of electrical wires are loaded into the tubular guiding and locking units. The bottom slit-opening part of the tubular guiding unit is inserted into the slit The corrugated tube is inserted into the tubular locking unit. The tubular locking unit is moved relative to the corrugated tube, whereby the slit is opened, the electrical wires are loaded into the corrugated tube, and the female and male locking portions are locked.
There is further provided a device for loading and locking a plurality of electrical wires into the corrugated tube having an inner and an outer diameter. The device includes a tubular guide unit for guiding the plurality of electrical wires. The unit has a first and a secon
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Kim Paul D.
Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.
Young Lee
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