Electrical connectors – With guiding means for mating of coupling part – For constrained pivotal or plural movement coupling
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-11
2003-01-07
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With guiding means for mating of coupling part
For constrained pivotal or plural movement coupling
C439S594000, C439S717000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06503094
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector supporting structure and coupling structure, more particularly to a connector supporting structure and coupling structure preferably used in automobile sun visor.
Generally, the sun visor is provided on a upper end of a front window of a driver's seat and a passenger seat on the side thereof of vehicle.
Some type of the sun visor has a vanity mirror and some type contains a lamp which enables the vanity mirror to be used even at night.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As a result of consideration of the inventors of the present invention, it has been found that in the sun visor having a lamp (not shown), a bracket
101
for fixing the sun visor to a vehicle body is provided at an end of a fixing shaft
102
and that bracket
101
is fixed on the vehicle body.
A connector
104
to be connected to a mating connector of wire harness placed in vehicle compartment is provided at an end of a lead wire
103
introduced from a shaft end
102
a
through the fixing shaft
102
.
The connector
104
comprises a connector housing
106
for incorporating a terminal
105
fixed to an end of the lead wire
103
and a double-fitting spacer
107
which holds the terminal
105
from being loose from the connector housing
106
when not required and functions as a lance for detecting for an non-engagement of the terminal
105
.
More specifically, the double-fitting spacer
107
is mounted to a spacer mounting hole portion
108
which goes through to a terminal accommodating chamber in the connector housing
106
so as to prevent the terminal
105
from being slipped out of the connector housing
106
and detect whether or not the terminal
105
is accommodated at a predetermined position in the connector housing
106
.
Upon installing the sun visor having such a structure to the vehicle body, as shown in
FIG. 27
, a connector
104
connected to the sun visor is engaged with and connected to a mating connector
111
of wire harness disposed in a space between an inner panel
109
of the vehicle body and an outer panel
110
and after that, the bracket
101
is installed on and fixed to a mounting hole in the inner panel
109
.
However, because the above described structure requires many parts for composing the connector
104
such as the double-fitting space
107
, a number of assembly steps are required.
Further, because a lead wire
103
is introduced into a space between the shaft end
102
a
of the fixing shaft
102
and the connector
104
, the lead wire
103
may be bit between the bracket
101
and the inner panel
109
when the bracket
101
is installed to the inner panel
109
.
Further, before the bracket
101
is installed to the inner panel
109
, a worker has to couple the aforementioned bracket
101
with the mating connector
111
provided in the space between the inner panel
109
and the outer panel
110
by feeling with sense of touch without visually making sure of the coupling. For the reason, any other person than a skilled worker cannot engage the connector
104
with the connector
111
easily. That is, because the connector coupling procedure is complicated, it takes much time for that coupling work.
Accordingly, the present invention has been achieved in considerations of the above described problems and an object of the invention is to provide a connector supporting structure in which the number of assembly steps can be reduced effectively by reducing the number of components and electric wire is prevented effectively from being bit by components. An another object of the invention is to provide a connector coupling structure which facilities coupling of the connector without manual operation of a worker and protects effectively the electric wire from being bit by the components, thereby securing a high reliability.
To achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector supporting structure comprising: a connector having a connector housing wherein a terminal is accommodated in a terminal accommodating chamber provided in the connector housing and a concave portion is formed from an outer side face of the connector housing up to a position leading to the terminal accommodating chamber; and a bracket having a convex portion for engaging with the concave portion so as to position the connector and unit the connector therewith.
Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector coupling structure, comprising: a bracket for fixing a subsidiary device to a panel; a first connector having a concave portion to be engaged with a convex portion formed on the bracket and to be united with the bracket by engaging the concave portion with the convex portion; a holder having an opening and to be mounted on a face at an opposite side to a face on which the bracket is mounted of a panel, with the opening portion positioned at a position corresponding to a bracket mounting hole formed in the panel; and a second connector to be installed freely movably around a supporting shaft within the holder and coupled with the first connector, wherein when the bracket united with the first connector is installed to the panel, the first connector is advanced into the holder through the opening portion and coupled with the second connector.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4363511 (1982-12-01), Viertel et al.
patent: 4953064 (1990-08-01), Viertel et al.
patent: 5011212 (1991-04-01), Viertel et al.
patent: 5752853 (1998-05-01), Curtindale
Oishi Kenji
Okabe Toshiaki
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
León Edwin A.
Ta Tho D.
Yazaki -Corporation
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