Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Coupling part with relatively pivotable concentric...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-19
2004-11-02
Hyeon, Hae Moon (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Coupling part with relatively pivotable concentric...
C439S318000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06811423
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pair of electrical connectors to be engaged with each other with a slight effort.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there is an electrical connector assembly to electrically connect a transmission installed in a vehicle to interior wiring thereof such as a multiway connector assembly (e.g. 16 way). This multiway connector assembly accommodates and retains a plurality of terminals in rooms of a male connector housing thereof. Then, this male connector is engaged fully with a female mating connector accommodating a plurality of terminals, so that the terminals of the connectors are respectively engaged and electrically connected. With the multiway connector assembly where the housing accommodates numbers of terminals, engaging of the connectors needs a high insertion force. Accordingly, a heavy effort to engage connectors makes workers fatigued badly. Therefore, some circular engaging connectors equipped with rotating parts (bayonet connectors) are proposed to lighten the effort.
As a circular engaging connector assembly, there is an electric connector assembly such as described in JP-A4-132178 issue bulletin or described in JP-A10-154553. (The term “JP-A” as herein means “unexamined published Japanese patent application”)
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the former electric connector assembly has a male connector
40
and a female connector
41
accommodating contact terminals
42
,
43
respectively. The male connector
40
is engaged with a locking hood
44
and holds the hood rotatably. By initially engaging the connectors
40
,
41
with each other, a projection
45
formed on an inner wall of the locking hood
44
is brought into a position of an opening part of a spiral groove
46
formed upon an exterior surface of the female connector
41
.
Under the initial engaging of the connectors
41
,
40
, the projection
45
makes contact with a wall forming the spiral groove
46
and presses the wall by rotating the locking hood
44
. Accordingly, the female connector
41
is urged to shift to the direction of an engaging position, so that the projection
45
reaches a dead end of the spiral groove
46
and the connectors
41
,
40
are fully engaged and electrically connected with each other.
Torque of the locking hood
44
is magnified into a large force in a direction of engaging by an inclined plane of the spiral groove
46
, so that the effort to engage the connectors
40
,
41
is reduced.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, the latter electrical connector assembly has a rotatable member
51
and a detection tool
52
. After the initial engaging of male and female connectors, the member
51
rotatably mounted on the male connector
50
is so rotated as to engage with the female connector. Consequently, the male connector
50
is moved toward the engagement position. Thus, the male and female connectors are fully engaged and electrically connected with each other. The detection tool
52
is so mounted on the male connector as to ascertain whether the connectors are fully engaged with each other. That is, when engaging the connectors fully with each other by rotating the member
51
, an engaging projection
54
of the detection tool
52
is engaged with an engaging recess
55
of the rotatable member
51
by inserting fully the detection tool
52
into an accommodating part
53
. On the contrary, when engaging the connectors insufficiently with each other by insufficient rotation of the member
51
, the engaging projection
54
of the detection tool
52
is not engaged with the engaging recess
55
of the rotatable member
51
. Consequently, after rotating the rotatable member
51
, a engaging condition of connectors is ascertained easily by whether the engaging projection
54
of the detection tool
52
is engaged with the engaging recess
55
of the rotatable or not.
In the above mentioned former connector assembly, the projection of the male connector reaches the dead end of the spiral groove of the female connector by rotating the rotatable member of the male connector, so that the connectors are fully engaged. A judgement of the full engaging is done by rotating the rotatable member to stop moving, because the rotatable member cannot rotate further when the projection reaches the dead end of the spiral groove. Thus, the judgement of the full engaging depends on operator's sense of detecting a change of torque mostly. It is difficult to ascertain the full engaging by visual observation. As a result, for example, when some trouble happens, it may mislead the sense of detecting the change of torque into believing that the rotatable member is sufficiently rotated despite the insufficient rotation. Thus, there is a possibility of occurrence that the engaging of the connectors is insufficient in the former connector assembly.
In this regard, it is easy to ascertain the condition of engaging in the latter connector assembly by mounting the detection tool on the male connector. The detection tool is housed in the accommodating part. The condition of engaging is ascertained by whether the engaging projection of the detector tool is engaged with the recess of the rotatable member. However, the latter connector assembly requires the detection tool in addition to the male connector, the female connector and the rotatable member. The number of the component parts is increased in the latter connector assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above described problems and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric connector assembly for ascertaining the full engaging condition of the connectors easily without an increase of component parts thereof.
In the connector assembly of the invention, a pair of connectors is engaged fully with each other by being engaged initially with each other, secondly being rotated the member mounted rotatably on either of the connectors, and thirdly being moved at least either of the connectors toward the engaging point.
In order to achieve the invention, according to a first aspect of the invention, in the above connector assembly, a first mark is provided on either the rotatable member or one of the connectors on which the member is mounted. A second mark is so provided on either said one of the connectors on which the member is mounted or the rotatable member as to be ascertained whether the pair of the connectors is fully engaged with each other.
In such a configuration, it is possible to ascertain whether the pair of the connectors is fully engaged with each other by the first mark either the rotatable member or one of the connectors and the second mark provided on either said one of the connectors or the rotatable member. Thus, it is possible to ascertain whether the pair of the connectors is fully engaged with each other without the increase of the component parts in the connector assembly.
According to a second aspect of the invention, it is preferable that either the first or second mark is a projection provided on an engaging arm which is mounted resiliently on either the rotatable member or one of the connectors, and either of the marks is the engaging recess where the projection is engaged.
Thus, the full engaging condition of the connectors is ascertained on sight. Because if the pair of connectors is fully engaged, the projection is engaged with the engaging recess, and if not, the projection is not engaged with the engaging recess. Further, when the pair of connectors is fully engaged, the projection is engaged with the engaging recess, so that the rotatable member holds the full engaging condition.
According to a third aspect of the invention, it is preferable that an initial engagement recess is provided on either one of the connectors on which the member is mounted or the rotatable member. The initial engagement recess is so engaged with the projection as to hold the rotatable member in an initial engaging position.
Thus, it is not difficult to engage a pair of connectors without rotating
Yada Hiroyuki
Yoshigi Toshimasa
Hyeon Hae Moon
Yazaki -Corporation
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