Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2004-02-19
2004-12-28
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S752000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06835102
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a connector in which a front holder is attached to a front end of a housing, receiving connection terminals therein, to cover distal ends (front ends) of the connection terminals.
Air bag devices have heretofore been used to protect automobile passengers from the impact of a collision. For inflating an air bag of the air bag device, an inflator of the air bag device is energized. When the inflator is energized, a propellant, contained in this inflator, is explosively burned, and expansion gas, produced as a result of this combustion, is introduced into the folded air bag to instantaneously inflate or expand the air bag.
A plurality of current-supplying wires extend outwardly from the inflator, and the inflator is electrically connected via these wires to a clock spring. A power source-side drive control unit for driving and controlling the inflator is electrically connected to the clock spring. When a potential difference due to electromagnetic waves or static electricity develops between the wires before the connection of the inflator, there is a possibility that the inflator malfunctions to cause the air bag to be inflated. Therefore, usually, short-circuiting resilient contacts (that is, short-circuiting springs) are contained in a connector provided at the distal end portions of the wires, each short-circuiting resilient contacts serving to short-circuit the mating connection terminals (secured respectively to the distal ends of the wires) together.
FIGS. 6
to
10
show one example of connectors containing the above-mentioned short-circuiting resilient contacts.
As shown in
FIGS. 6
to
8
, a plurality of terminal chambers
2
a
, separated from one another by partition walls
2
h
, are arranged in a row within a housing
2
of the connector
1
. The connection terminals
3
(each having a wire W connected to a rear end thereof) for connecting an inflator and others to a power source are inserted respectively into the terminal chambers
2
a
through a rear end of the housing
2
in a direction of arrow A, and are received in these terminal chambers
2
a
, respectively.
The lance (that is, an elastic retainer)
2
b
, having its distal end portion projected into the terminal chamber
2
a
in the housing
2
, is engaged in an engagement hole
3
a
formed in the connection terminal
3
. Therefore, the connection terminal
3
is retained against withdrawal from the housing
2
. The retaining member (that is, a spacer)
6
for retaining the connection terminals
3
in a double locking manner is inserted in a direction of arrow E into a recessed portion
2
c
formed in the housing
2
. In this inserting operation, a distal end
6
a
of the retaining member
6
is engaged in engagement recesses
3
b
formed respectively in the connection terminals
3
, thereby fixing the connection terminals
3
in a double locking manner within the housing
2
.
A space
2
d
is formed in the housing
2
, and is disposed below the terminal chambers
2
a
, and communicates with the terminal chambers
2
a
, and the short-circuiting resilient contacts
8
are received in the space
2
d
, and each short-circuiting resilient contact
8
contacts both of the pair of corresponding connection terminals
3
to short-circuit them together. The short-circuiting resilient contact
8
is formed by bending a metal sheet so as to have a roughly oval cross-sectional shape, and to have a pair of contact plate portions
8
a
. The pair of contact plate portions
8
a
, received in the space
2
d
, project respectively into the corresponding terminal chambers
2
a
, and contact the pair of connection terminals
3
, respectively, to short-circuit them together.
As a result, there develops no potential difference between the pair of connection terminals
3
, and therefore even if current due to electromagnetic waves or static electricity flows through the wires W when mounting an air bag device on a vehicle body of a vehicle, the air bag device (particularly the inflator) is prevented from malfunction. Mating connection terminals (not shown) and insulating plates (not shown) are provided in a power source-side mating connector (not shown) in which the connector
1
is adapted to be fitted. When the connector
1
is fitted in the mating connector, the connection terminals
3
are connected to the mating terminals, respectively, and at the same time the insulating plate is inserted between the connection terminal
3
and the short-circuiting resilient contact
8
, thereby eliminating the short-circuiting effect by the short-circuiting resilient contact
8
.
Generally, in an integrally-molded connector, the positional relation between terminal chambers and lances in a housing is such that each terminal chamber and the corresponding lance are spaced from each other in an upward-downward direction when viewed from the front or the side of the connector so that molds can be withdrawn from the molded housing. More specifically, terminal insertion ports (into which connection terminals of a mating connector are inserted, respectively) in a front wall of the housing and the lances are arranged such that each terminal insertion port does not overlap the corresponding lance in the upward-downward direction when viewed from the front side of the connector. With this arrangement, the ordinary connector is of such a construction that the front wall of the housing will not interfere with a mold for molding the lances when withdrawing this mold.
However, in order to meet a demand for a compact design of connectors in recent years, there has been proposed the type of connector in which a connector housing is divided into two separate parts, that is, a housing and a front holder, taking into consideration the withdrawing of a mold from the molded connector. The two parts are molded separately from each other, and thereafter are assembled together. One such example is the connector shown in
FIGS. 6
to
10
. Although a front wall
4
b
of the front holder
4
is disposed in overlapping relation to the lances
2
b
in the upward-downward direction as shown in
FIG. 7
, the front wall
4
b
of the front holder
4
will not interfere with the withdrawing of the mold since the front holder
4
and the housing
2
are separate from each other, and therefore the mold can be suitably designed. As a result, the dimension of the connector
1
in the upward-downward direction is reduced, so that the compact design of the connector
1
is achieved.
A plurality of terminal insertion ports
4
a
are formed in the front holder
4
as shown in
FIG. 6
, and when the connector
1
is fitted into the mating connector, the mating connection terminals (male connection terminals) are inserted into these terminal insertion ports
4
a
, respectively. As shown in
FIGS. 9A
to
9
C, retaining projections
4
d
are formed on opposite side walls
4
c
of the front holder
4
, respectively. Each retaining projection
4
d
is of a generally trapezoidal having slope faces
4
f
formed respectively at upper and lower portions thereof.
The housing
2
is formed by injection molding a synthetic resin in such a manner that a recessed space is formed at its front end portion. The recessed space is defined by opposite side walls
2
e
and a lower wall
2
f
interconnecting the opposite side walls
2
e
. As shown in
FIGS. 6 and 10
, engagement holes
2
g
are formed in the opposite side walls
2
e
, respectively. When the front holder
4
is inserted and fitted into the recessed space of the housing
2
in a direction of arrow B (see FIG.
7
), the retaining projections
4
d
of the front holder
4
are engaged in the engagement holes
2
g
, respectively. As a result, the front holder
4
is fixed to the housing
2
.
In the related-art connector
1
, however, the front holder
4
is molded into such a shape that the height of the widthwise side portions of the front holder
4
is large (thick) while the height of the widthwise central portion is small (thin) as shown in FIG.
9
A. Therefore, a pressing force, applie
Tsukerman Larisa
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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