Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Patent
1995-05-11
1997-05-13
Pirlot, David L.
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
439153, H01R 1362
Patent
active
056286422
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electrical connector with a first housing part, receiving socket contacts, and with a second housing part, receiving knife contacts, which the two parts of the housing can be locked together and released by means of pins or the like, firmly attached to the parts of the housing, and pivotable clamps.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a known connectors of this kind, one part of the housing has two U-shaped clamps, which can be swung with recesses provided in the legs onto pins of the other part of the housing and can be locked by means of expansions, formed in the rim surfaces of the recesses as detents, at these expansions. Apart from the fact the clamps can be operated only separately in succession, whereby it is possible to tilt the parts of the housing with respect to each other, the expansions acting as detents require a significant amount of energy to swing on or release the clamps, having a negative mechanical effect on pins and clamps. In addition, the detents provided at the clamps do not function reliably. In addition, this known connector is difficult to manipulate due to the independently uncontrollable swivelling of the clamps before or during the plugging operation of the parts of the housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a connector of the aforementioned type which is designed to simplify the manipulation and to reliably stop the parts of the housing. According to the invention, this object is achieved by arranging of a single U-shaped clamp, which is pivot-mounted on one part of the housing and which has legs with linking grooves in the region of the board-shaped expansions and, which can be swung onto pins of the other part of the housing. The legs are provided with springy chamfers, which in the opening position are braced as stop elements against the part of the housing which carries the clamp, and a cutout, notch, hole or the like, into which a locking hook mounted resiliently on a part of the housing reaches releasably when the clamp is in the locking position, is provided in the cross piece of the clamp. In the case of housing parts whose cross section is substantially rectangular, the articulated points for the clamp are preferably provided in the narrow sides of the first part of the housing. In this manner the clamp can be stopped in the open position and locked in the coupling position, thus enabling both parts of the housing to be pre-plugged without hindrance and by subsequent pivoting of the clamp, with or without additional tightening effect during the plugging operation, achieving a reliable contact between socket and knife contacts as well as locking of the clamp, and, in the coupling position, a reliable stay of the parts of the housing at each other. Since the locking means are separated from the linking groove or that part of the legs that acts with the pins, the pins and the clamp remain in an advantageous manner virtually free of disturbing mechanical stresses.
The springy segments of the clamp allow the formation of a pre-plug position, where simply strip-shaped chamfers are used in the region of the clamp legs, whose one segment is bent in or bent down in the direction of the first part of the housing and which enable by reaching behind the first part of the housing with the bent in or bent down parts a resilient fixation. In addition, it has proven to be advantageous if the linking grooves exhibit bends, extending at right angles to the swivel planes of the legs, on at least the boundary surfaces reaching behind the pins. The bends allow the compression of surfaces to be kept to a minimum, thus preventing the boundary surfaces of the linking grooves to cut into the circumferential surfaces of the pins, even in the case of repeated locking operatings.
Finally it is also provided that the locking hook for the clamp is arranged preferably on a strip-shaped extension of the first part of the housing and the extension is designed counter to the effect of a restoring force to releas
REFERENCES:
patent: 5172998 (1992-12-01), Hatagishi
patent: 5296696 (1994-03-01), Okada et al.
Bieringer Anton
Nutzel Peter
Framatome Connectors International
Pirlot David L.
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