Electrical connectors – Coupling part including flexing insulation – Coupling part housing hinged for coupling part assembly
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-26
2001-04-24
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Coupling part including flexing insulation
Coupling part housing hinged for coupling part assembly
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220894
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an electric connector, in particular for a circuit for activating a vehicle air-bag device, and to an electric connecting unit defined by connection of said connector to a complementary connector in an assembly direction.
Electric connectors of the above type are known to comprise an insulating casing defining a number of cavities having axes parallel to said assembly direction and for housing respective electric terminals, which are connected to respective electric cables and retained inside the cavities by main retaining means; and, for each cavity, the main retaining means comprise a retaining seat formed in the respective terminal, and an elastically deformable latch member forming part of the casing and which clicks onto the seat.
Such connectors also comprise auxiliary retaining means for determining correct insertion, and further ensuring retention, of the terminals inside the respective cavities.
The auxiliary retaining means normally comprise a movable member which clicks onto the casing and may either be hinged to and integral with the casing, or defined by a separate member. Whichever the case, the movable member only clicks onto the casing when all the terminals are inserted correctly and locked inside the respective cavities by the respective latch members. Conversely, if any one of the terminals is not properly or fully inserted, the main retaining means remain deformed, thus preventing assembly of the movable member and so enabling the fault to be detected.
Known connectors of the type briefly described above involve several drawbacks. In the event one of the terminals is not inserted fully inside the respective cavity, the movable member may be forced into the connecting position despite interference with the main retaining means, thus resulting, for example, in breakage or deformation of the contacting parts; and the connector so assembled may be connected to a complementary connector. In such cases, improper assembly of the terminal may go undetected during testing, on account, for example, of the terminal being so positioned as determine an albeit precarious electric contact which, in applications in which the connector is subjected to vibration, as on a vehicle, is bound to fail eventually, with all the obvious consequences this entails.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a straightforward, reliable, low-cost electric connector designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawback typically associated with known connectors.
According to the present invention, there is provided a connector as defined in claim
1
.
The present invention also relates to an electric connecting unit as defined in claim
8
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4721482 (1988-01-01), Fukuda et al.
patent: 5067913 (1991-11-01), Maejima
patent: 5618207 (1997-04-01), Maejima
Bigotto Pier Carlo
Rampone Renzo
Framatome Connectors International
Luebke Renee
Nguyen Phuong Chi
Perman & Green LLP
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