Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-23
2004-03-09
Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S595000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702623
ABSTRACT:
The present invention is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-157409, which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector which is configured in a manner that one or plural stages of insulation housings are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal or a press contact terminal thereby to house the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner within the-connector.
2. Related Art
In recent years, in accordance with the increase of the number of electric devices and control circuits etc. mounted on an automobile, the number of electric wires to be housed in a wiring harness wired within a body of the automobile has been increased. In such a wire harness having many electric wires to be housed, such a connector has been increasingly employed that houses and holds press contact terminals which are excellent in workability of coupling the end portions of the electric wires.
The press contact terminal is configured in a manner that when a covered electric wire is inserted with pressure between a pair of press-contact blades disposed in an opposite manner, the press-contact blades cut the insulation cover of the covered wire and are made in contact with the inner conductor of the covered wire and so electrically coupled to the inner conductor of the covered wire. As compared with the conventionally spread crimped terminals, such a press contact terminal can eliminate a process of stripping off the cover of the end portion of the electric wire and a process of caulking the terminal, and hence the workability of coupling the electric wires can be improved to a large extent
However, the press contact terminal is restricted in the kinds of electric wires capable of being coupled thereto due to the configuration thereof. For example, the press contact terminal is not suitable for a covered electric wire in which the outer diameter of the inner conductor thereof is out of the prescribed range with respect to a gap size between the pair of the press-contact blades, for a shield electric wire in which a shield wire is disposed on the outer periphery of the inner conductor, and for an electric wire requiring a high coupling intensity.
In general, the wire harness for an automobile contains various kinds of cover electric wires and shield electric wires etc. having different sizes, and so it is required, in view of productivity, to use properly electric wires to be coupled to the press contact terminals and electric wires to be coupled to crimped terminals like the conventional technique.
In view of such a mixed usage of the press contact terminals and the crimped terminals, such a connector is proposed which is configured in a manner that one or plural stages of insulation housings are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal or a press contact terminal thereby to house the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner within the connector
FIGS. 9
to
11
show an example of conventional connector housing the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner.
A connector
1
shown in the figures is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 189117/1998 and is configured in a manner that common terminal chambers
8
commonly usable for crimped terminals
5
and press contact terminals
6
are disposed in two lines of upper and lower stages in a mixed manner within an insulation housing
3
.
Each of the crimped terminals
5
and the press contact terminals
6
is a press molded part formed by a metal conductor plate.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, the press contact terminal
6
is configured in a manner that two pairs of press-contact blades
6
a
,
6
a
each pair of which cut the outer cover of a covered electric wire
13
and are made in contact with the inner conductor of the electric wire are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal in an opposite manner and a female terminal fitting portion
6
c
into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.
As shown in
FIG. 11
, the crimped terminal
5
is configured in a manner that a conductor caulking nail.
5
a
for making press-contact with the inner conductor of a covered electric wire
12
and a cover caulking nail
5
b
for pressing the covered electric wire
12
on the outer cover thereof are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal and a female terminal fitting portion
5
c
into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.
The common terminal chamber
8
is provided at the rear half portion thereof with an opening which makes a pair of the press-contact blades
6
a
,
6
a
of the rear end portion possible to press-contact with the covered electric wire
13
of the terminal after the press contact terminal
6
is housed within the common terminal chamber. Covers
9
,
10
for shielding the opening are integrally formed with the insulation housing
3
by thin-thickness hinges
11
at the front side from the opening, respectively.
The front half portion of the common terminal chamber
8
houses the terminal fitting portions
5
c
,
6
c
of the crimped terminal
5
and the press contact terminal
6
and has therein flexible lances
3
a
,
3
b
for provisionally engaging these terminals
5
,
6
.
The press contact terminal
6
and the crimped terminal
5
are inserted from the rear side of the common terminal chambers
8
toward the front side of the insulation housing
3
as shown by arrows A, B in
FIGS. 10 and 11
, respectively, and provisionally engaged with the flexible lances
3
a
,
3
b
within the common terminal chambers
8
.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, in the press contact terminals
6
, the covered electric wires
13
are made in contact with pressure to the press-contact blades
6
a
,
6
a
from direction shown by arrows C, D, respectively. As shown in
FIG. 11
, the covered electric wires
12
are made in contact with pressure to the crimped terminals
5
in advance.
Thereafter, the open/close covers
9
,
10
are closed and so both the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals
6
are placed in a formally engaged state, whereby the crimped terminals
5
and the press contact terminals
6
are prevented from coming out of the common terminal chambers.
As shown in
FIG. 9.
, the open/close covers
9
,
10
thus closed engage with engaging lock portions
3
c
,
3
d
protrusively provided at the outer side surface of the insulation housing
3
and so are locked in a closed state, respectively.
However, according to the aforesaid conventional connector
1
, the terminals
5
,
6
are attached to the common terminal chambers
8
by inserting the terminals from the rear side of the insulation housing
3
.
Thus, the terminals
5
,
6
which are inserted along the longitudinal direction of the terminals upon insertion are apt to vibrate, so that there is a possibility that the front end portions etc. of the terminals collide with the inner wall surfaces of the common terminal chambers
8
due to the vibration of the terminals and so the insertion operation of the terminals can not be performed smoothly.
Further, the insertion direction (the direction shown by the arrows A, B in
FIGS. 10
,
11
) of the crimped terminals
5
and the press contact terminals
6
with respect to the common terminal chambers
8
on the insulation housing
3
differs from the directions (the directions shown by the arrows C, D in
FIG. 10
) of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wires
13
with respect to the press contact terminals
6
. Thus, it is difficult to automate a mounting process of the crimped terminals
5
and the press contact terminals
6
on the insulation housing
3
and a press-contact process of the cove
Fukuda Masaru
Miwa Takeya
Mochizuki Shinji
Vu Hien
Yazaki -Corporation
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