Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-30
2001-12-25
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S544000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332789
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector supporting mechanism, and more particularly, to a connector supporting mechanism for supporting and fixing a pair of female and male mutually connected connectors to a supporting body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a connector supporting mechanism of this kind, there is known a technique as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-21992. This prior art has a structure as shown in
FIGS. 1
to
3
. A connecting mechanism of this conventional connector will be explained with using
FIGS. 1
to
3
below.
This connector connecting mechanism comprises a holder
2
mounted into a mounting hole
1
A formed in a mounting member
1
such as a stay member of an automobile as shown in
FIG. 1
, a first connector
3
which is slidably fitted in the holder
2
, a second connector
5
connected to an electronic unit
4
, and a swinging lever
6
swingably supported at a pivot
6
A by the first connector
3
for driving in a direction to the second connector
5
to the first connector
3
.
The holder
2
is formed into a substantially cylindrical shape, and includes a pair of upper and lower horizontal plates
7
and
8
, and a pair of left and right side plates
9
and
10
as shown in FIG.
1
. The holder
2
is inserted into the mounting hole
1
A formed in the mounting member
1
and fixed therein by fixing means such as screw. The side plates
9
and
10
of the holder
2
are formed at their inner wall surfaces with guide grooves
11
and
12
along the longitudinal direction for slidably guiding the first connector. The horizontal plate
7
is formed with a guide groove
13
with which an engaging pin
6
B projecting from an upper surface of a rear end of the swinging lever
6
is engaged and guided. The guide groove
13
comprises an introducing portion
13
A rearwardly extending from a front end of the holder
2
, an arc driving grove portion
13
B extending from an end of the introducing portion
13
A rearwardly and inwardly, and a locking groove portion
13
C extending from an end of the driving groove portion
13
B rearwardly. The driving groove portion
13
B guides the engaging pin
6
B along an arc as the first connector
3
is inserted into the holder
2
. With the motion of this engaging pin
6
B, the swinging lever
6
swings.
An engaging groove
6
C is formed in a lower surface of a front end of the swinging lever
6
. A driven pin
5
A projecting from the second connector
5
engages the engaging groove
6
C. Another swinging lever
6
is also formed on the other side surface of the first connector
3
. Another driven pin
6
A (not shown) is also projecting from the other side surface of the second connector such as to correspond to the other swinging lever formed on the other side surface. In
FIG. 1
, the reference symbol
3
A represents a pair of slide projections projecting from a rear end of each of opposite sides of the first connector
3
. The slide projections
3
A are guided by the guide grooves
11
and
12
formed in the inner walls of the side plates
9
and
10
of the holder
2
. As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 3
, a temporarily mounting portion
3
B for temporarily mounting the first connector
3
into a front opening of the holding is formed between each of the pair of the slide projections formed on both sides of the first connector
3
. Further, as shown in
FIGS. 1
,
2
and
3
, a pair of falling-out preventing projections
3
C and
3
C are projecting from each of the opposite sides of the rear end of upper and lower surfaces of the first connector
3
. Falling-out preventing portions
2
A are formed on the front end opening peripheral edges of the holder
2
so as to correspond to the falling-out preventing projections
3
C and
3
C. The projections
3
C are fitted into temporarily mounting positions of the holder
2
for preventing the first connector
3
from falling out from the holder
2
by the falling-out preventing portions
2
A.
However, according to the above-described connecting mechanism, the driven pin
5
A projecting from the second connector
5
is engaged with the engaging groove
6
C formed in the lower surface of the front end of the swinging lever
6
. Therefore, when the driven pin
5
A is inserted into the engaging groove
6
C, the swinging lever
6
is prone to receive stress in a direction away from the first connector
3
(in the vertical direction in FIG.
1
), and there is an adverse possibility that the swinging lever
6
comes out from the first connector
3
Further, according to the connecting mechanism of the connectors, it is necessary to mount the holder
2
to the mounting hole
1
A formed in the mounting member
1
before the first connector
3
and the second connector
5
are mounted to the mounting member
1
such as a stay member of an automobile, and there is a problem that the number of parts is increased. Especially, in the prior art, since the swinging lever
6
is rotated and driven if the engaging pin
6
B engaged in the guiding groove
13
of the holder
2
is guided, it is necessary to precisely set size and shape of the guide groove
13
formed in the holder
2
.
Further, according to the above-described conventional mechanism, in order to temporarily mount the first connector
3
to the holder
2
at an initial position of the inserting motion, it is necessary to form the temporarily mounting portion
3
B on the side of the first connector
3
. As a result, it is necessary to form the temporarily mounting projection
2
B also on the side of the holder
2
as shown in FIG.
3
. In addition, in order to prevent the first connector
3
inserted into the initial position of the inserting motion from falling out from the holder
2
, it is necessary to form the falling-out preventing projections
3
C on the first connector
3
, and to form the falling-out preventing portions
2
A also on the side of the holder
2
. In the conventional mechanism, since the temporarily mounting mechanism and the falling-out preventing mechanism are formed on each of the members, there is a problem that the mechanisms become complicated. Therefore, according to the conventional connector connecting mechanism, since the number of parts is great and mechanisms are complicated, a mounting space is required, and the mounting operation is complicated. For these reasons, in the conventional engaging mechanism, there is a problem that the costs of parts and operational costs are high.
Further, the temporarily mounting portion
3
B formed on the first connector
3
and the falling-out preventing portions
2
A formed on the holder
2
are portions which are set such that they are resiliently deformed when the first connector
3
is inserted into the holder
2
. There is an adverse possibility that these portion may be bent or damaged by strong external force caused when a wire harness connected to the first connector
3
is handled or when the holder
2
and the first connector
3
are assembled at improper position.
Further, in the conventional connector connecting mechanism, when the first connector
3
is inserted into the mounting member
1
such as a stay member of an automobile, it is necessary to fit the engaging pin
6
B projecting from the rear end of the swinging lever
6
. In the state in which the first connector
3
is inserted into the holder
2
in this manner, since the swinging lever
6
can swing freely, there are problems that some experience is required to insert the engaging pin
6
B into the introducing portion
13
A of the guide groove
13
, and the assembling operation is complicated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive connector supporting mechanism capable of reducing the number of parts and its size, and an assembling operation can smoothly and reliably be carried out.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector supporting mechanism comprising a mounting member, a first connector support
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Nguyen Son V.
Sircus Brian
Yazaki -Corporation
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