Electrical connectors – With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision – Grounding to connector container or housing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-21
2003-02-18
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision
Grounding to connector container or housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520781
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector with a shielding terminal and to a method for mounting such a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connector with a shielding terminal is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-96895. This connector is configured for mounting to an electrically conductive panel. The connector includes a housing and the shielding terminal can be accommodated in the housing. The housing is formed with a lock that engages the shielding terminal to lock the properly inserted shielding terminal in the housing. A ground terminal is assembled in the housing and shorts the shielding terminal to the conductive panel.
A conventional unshielded connector also has a housing formed with a lock to hold the unshielded terminal in the housing. However, the unshielded connector further has a retainer to lock the unshielded terminal redundantly.
It is not easy to apply the retainer of a conventional unshielded connector to a connector with shielding terminal. More particularly, the ground terminal is arranged around the shielding terminal and interferes with the retainer. As a result, only the locking portion in the conventional shielded connector locks the shielding terminal, and the locking force is not as great as the conventional unshielded connector with a retainer.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector and a connector mounting method allowing for an improved locking force for a shielding terminal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a connector with a shielding terminal. The connector comprises a housing for accommodating and partly locking a shielding terminal. The shielding terminal comprises and inner terminal and a shielding shell that surrounds the inner terminal. A ground terminal is mountable on the housing to short the shielding shell to a fixed article. The ground terminal also is configured to fully lock the shielding terminal in the housing. Thus, the ground terminal provides a higher locking force of the shielding terminal in the housing.
The ground terminal preferably is mounted in a direction that intersects an insertion direction of the shielding terminal into the housing. Thus, the ground terminal prevents movement of the shielding terminal in a withdrawal direction from the housing. Additionally, a force acting in the withdrawal direction of the shielding terminal is not likely to detach the ground terminal from the housing because this force acts in a direction intersecting the mounting direction of the ground terminal. As a result, the ground terminal can be held firmly to lock the shielding terminal, and the locking force of the connector for locking the shielding terminal can be improved.
The ground terminal is mounted on the housing for movement between a partial locking position where insertion and withdrawal of the shielding terminal is permitted and a full locking position where the ground terminal fully locks the shielding terminal. Thus, the shielding terminal can be inserted after the housing and the ground terminal are assembled. The connector achieves efficiencies because the housing and the ground terminal can be handled as one part during transportation to the site where the shielding terminal is mounted and during mounting of the shielding terminal into the housing.
Both the housing and the ground terminal are formed with mount holes through which a mounting member is inserted to fix the shielding terminal to the fixed article. The mount holes of the housing and the ground terminal preferably are not aligned when the ground terminal is at the partial locking position, but are aligned when the ground terminal is at the full locking position.
The mount holes are not aligned and the connector cannot be mounted on the fixed article if the ground terminal is at the partial locking position. This prevents an operator from forgetting to push the ground terminal to the full locking position.
The ground terminal comprises a contact piece that can be brought into contact with the shielding shell when the ground terminal is at the full locking position. However, the contact piece does not contact the shielding shell when the ground terminal is at the partial locking position. As a result, the shielding terminal and the contact piece do not interfere with each other when the shielding terminal is mounted into the housing, and insertion resistance of the shielding terminal can be reduced.
The housing may comprise a detecting portion, and a portion of the ground terminal can be disposed in the detecting portion when the ground terminal is in the partial locking position. The presence of the ground terminal in the detecting portion of the housing can be detected to check the position of the ground terminal. More particularly, a leading end of the contact piece may be exposed at a position detectable from outside when the ground terminal is at the partial locking position. Thus, the proper position of the ground terminal can be detected by projecting a light for photoelectric detection to the leading end portion of the contact piece.
The invention also is directed to a method for mounting a connector for fixing a shielding terminal to an electrically conductive fixed article. The method comprises inserting the shielding terminal in a housing, and mounting a ground terminal on the housing to electrically short a shielding shell of the shielding terminal and the fixed article, and thereby locking the shielding terminal in the housing by means of the ground terminal.
The shielding terminal is partly locked in the housing by a partial locking means during the shielding terminal inserting step and fully locked in the housing by the ground terminal in the ground terminal mounting step.
The ground terminal preferably is moved in the ground terminal mounting step in a direction that intersects an insertion direction of the shielding terminal into the housing in the shielding terminal inserting step.
The ground terminal may be moved between a partial locking position where insertion and withdrawal of the shielding terminal are permitted and a full locking position where the ground terminal fully locks the shielding terminal.
The method may further comprise a step of detecting whether the ground terminal is in the partial locking position by verifying whether a portion of the ground terminal is in a detecting portion of the housing.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that even though embodiments are described separately, single features thereof may be combined to additional embodiments.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4591216 (1986-05-01), McClune
patent: 5304067 (1994-04-01), Inaba et al.
patent: 5691506 (1997-11-01), Miyazaki et al.
patent: 6042396 (2000-03-01), Endo et al.
patent: 8-96895 (1996-04-01), None
Aoyama Masahiko
Koide Takashi
Casella Anthony J.
Hespos Gerald E.
Paumen Gary
Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.
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