Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-06
2003-04-08
Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
C439S489000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06544066
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for preventing a half-fitted state, in which a male housing and a female housing are half-fitted to each other.
2. Related Art
In the case that when a female connector is connected to a male connector, such a connecting operation is finished in a state in which the connectors are half-fitted to each other, the connectors may be detached from each other after the operation. Thus, a half-fitting prevention member is provided in the connector to thereby prevent an occurrence of a half-fitted state. Consequently, reliable fitting of female and male connectors is achieved.
One such connector is proposed and described in JP-A-10-50408. As illustrated in
FIG. 27
, a connector
1
comprises a male connector
3
, a female connector
5
into which the male connector
3
is fitted, and a half-fitting prevention member
7
for preventing an occurrence of a half-fitted state of the male connector
3
and the female connector
5
.
The male connector
3
has an exclusive-use housing
11
that is formed in such a manner as to be integral with an outer wall of a male housing body
9
and that is disposed at an upper portion thereof. A flexible arm
13
for retaining a state, in which the male connector
3
is fitted into the female connector
5
, is provided in the exclusive-use housing
11
. The flexible arm
13
has a pressure release portion
15
provided on the top surface thereof and an engaging projection
17
provided on the bottom surface of a leading end portion thereof.
The female connector
5
, to which the male connector
3
is fitted, has pressing portions
19
provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof in such a way as to protrude therefrom, and also has an engaging portion
21
to be engaged with the engaging projection
17
of the flexible arm
13
in a state in which the male connector
3
is fitted into the female connector
5
. Further, the half-fitting prevention member for preventing an occurrence of a half-fitted state, in which the male connector
3
is half-fitted to the female connector
5
, is incorporated into the male connector
3
.
The half-fitting prevention member
7
is constituted by an elastic member
23
, which is held in the exclusive-use housing
11
, and a slider
25
that is supported by this elastic member
23
and disposed on the flexible arm
13
and held in the exclusive-use housing
11
.
When the male connector
3
is fitted into the female connector
5
in the connector
1
of such a configuration, first, the male connector
3
is inserted into the female connector
5
. At that time, the slider
25
is pushed by the pressing portion
19
against a pushing force of the elastic member. Thus, the slider
25
is moved on the flexible arm
13
in a fitting direction.
Then, in the case that the male connector
3
and the female connector
5
are brought into a fitted state by inserting the male connector
5
into a completely inserted position in the female connector
5
in which an outer wall
2
of the female connector
5
is positioned under the exclusive-use housing
11
, the engaging projection
17
provided on the bottom surface of the flexible arm
13
is engaged with the engaging portion
21
of the outer wall
27
of the female connector
5
, so that the fitting between the male connector
3
and the female connector
5
is put into a temporarily held condition. At that time, the pushing state of the pressing portion
19
is canceled by the pressure release portion
15
, so that the slider
25
is moved by the pushing force of the elastic member
23
to an initial position thereof. Further, the slider
25
is engaged with an upper-side part of the leading end portion of the flexible arm
13
. This prevents accidental displacement of the flexible arm
13
. Consequently, the fitting state, in which the male connector
3
and the female connector
5
are fitted to each other, is retained.
However, the slider
25
and the exclusive-use housing
11
for holding the slider
25
are disposed over the flexible arm
13
in the related connector
1
. Thus, the dimension in the direction of width or height of the male connector is large. Consequently, the related connector has encountered the problem that the size of the entire connector is large.
Conversely, in the case that the slider
25
is placed under the flexible arm
13
, the slider
25
cannot be engaged with the upper part of the leading end portion of the flexible arm
13
during the connector is in the state in which the male connector
3
and the female connector are temporarily fitted to each other. Thus, when the flexible arm
13
, whose engaging projection
17
is engaged with the engaging portion
21
, happens to undergo upward displacement, there is a fear that the fitting state, in which the male connector
3
and the female connector
5
are fitted to each other, cannot be reliably retained.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a connector enabled to reduce the size of the entirety thereof without increasing the dimensions in the directions of width and height thereof and to retain the fitting state of the male and female connectors.
To achieve the foregoing object, according to the invention, there is provided a connector (hereunder referred to as a first connector) that comprises a male connector, a female connector into which this male connector, an elastic latching member, which is provided on an outer periphery of one of the male and female connectors, for retaining a fitted-state of the male and female connectors, and a half-fitting prevention member for detaching, when the male connector and the female connector are half-fitted to each other, the connectors from each other to thereby notify a half-fitted state, in which the male and female connectors are half-fitted to each other, and prevent the half-fitted state from being retained. Thus, the half-fitting prevention member is placed at a height that is nearly equal to or less than a height of the elastic latching member above a surface of the outer periphery, which projects therefrom, without increasing the dimensions in the direction of width and height of one of the male and female connectors.
In the connector of such a configuration, in a state in which the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, the elastic latching portion retains the fitted state of the male and female connectors. At that time, in the case that the male and female connectors are in a half-fitted state in which the connectors are not completely fitted to each other, the half-fitting prevention member detaches the male connector from the female connector and notifies that the connectors are half-fitted to each other. This prevents the half-fitted state of the connectors from being retained.
Further, in this connector, the male and female connectors can retain a fitted state thereof. Thus, the half-fitting prevention member can be disposed at a height that is nearly equal to or less than a height of the elastic latching member placed above a surface of the outer periphery, which is projects therefrom, without increasing the dimensions in the directions of width and height of one of the male and female connectors.
An embodiment (hereunder referred to as a second connector) of the first connector of the invention comprises a fitting hood portion, which is provided at the other of the male and female connectors and put into a fitted state by having the one of the male and female connectors inserted, and a latching hood portion that is provided in this fitting hood portion and has the elastic latching portion caught in the fitted state, in which the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, and that accommodates the entire elastic latching portion, in addition to the constituent elements of the first connector.
In the second connector configured in this manner, the one of the male and female connectors is inserted into the fitting hood portion of the other of the connectors. In this
Nguyen Khiem
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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