Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-05
2002-09-10
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447344
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As an example of a branch connector which branches wiring, a joint connector which joins together connector housings of the same structure through plural stages such that they are stacked has been proposed.
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 3
, a front surface
101
a
of a connector housing
101
has front engaging members
102
, rear engaging members
103
, front lock members
104
and front surface rear lock members
105
. On the other hand, a back face
101
b
has front engaging member insertion holes
106
in which front engaging members
102
are to be inserted, rear engaging member insertion holes
107
in which rear engaging members
103
are to be inserted and back face rear lock members
108
engaging with the front surface rear lock members
105
.
When joining the both connector housings
101
,
101
together, as shown in
FIG. 1
, the back face
101
b
of a connector housing
101
is placed so as to oppose the front surface
101
a
of the other connector housing arid overlaid thereon. Then, the connector housings
101
,
101
in the temporary setting condition before joining are placed between an upper connector joining member
101
and a lower connector joining member
110
as shown in FIG.
2
and joined together by pressing from above.
The temporary setting condition before the joining means that as shown in
FIG. 2
, the front lock member
104
makes contact with the temporary engaging face
112
formed below the front lock member engaging hole
111
in which the front lock member
104
is to be inserted and engaged with and in a rear portion of the connector housings, as shown in
FIG. 3
, a connector temporary engaging face
108
a
of a back face rear lock member
108
makes contact with a connector temporary engaging face
105
a
formed on the front surface rear lock member
105
.
If both the connector housings
101
,
101
are tried to be joined together from this temporary setting condition, the front engaging member
102
is inserted into the front engaging member insertion hole
106
and at the same time, the rear engaging member
103
is inserted into the rear engaging member insertion hole
107
, so that both the connector housings
101
,
101
are positioned without being loosened in the back and forth direction and in the vertical direction.
In a front portion of this connector housing
101
, the front lock member
104
is inserted into and engaged with the front lock member engaging hole
111
so that the housing front portion is locked. In the rear portion thereof, pawls of the front surface rear lock member
105
and the back face rear lock member
108
engage with each other so that the housing rear portion is locked. Consequently, both the connector housings
101
,
101
are joined together in a joining direction so that they are not separated from each other and maintained in that condition.
Then, a height, at a contact position between the joined connector housings in the front lock portion (contact portion between the front lock member
104
and the temporary engaging face
112
) is different from the height at the contact position in the rear lock portion (contact portion between the connector temporary engaging faces
105
a
and
105
a
of the front surface rear lock member
105
and the back face rear lock member
108
). Thus, the connector housing
101
overlaid on the lower connector housing is inclined forward as shown in FIG.
2
.
For this reason, if both the connector housings
101
,
101
are tried to be joined together, likely prying action occurs at a joined portion due to unequal pressing force or a joined portion is damaged or the joining condition becomes incomplete.
In the connector housing
101
, as shown in
FIG. 4
, a tab insertion hole
114
for introducing a tab
113
of a terminal into a terminal accommodating chamber
115
is formed in the back face
101
b
. When the connector housings are joined, a front tip of the tab
113
makes contact with an opening peripheral portion
114
a
of the tab insertion hole
114
so that a load is applied on the tab
113
. If this load is too large, a front end stress of the tab
113
can not be dispersed so that the tab may be bent as shown by dotted line in the same Figure. Consequently, the tab cannot be connected to a terminal accommodated in the overlaid connector housing
101
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed to solve the above described problem and an object of the invention is to provide a joint connector capable of maintaining connector housings in parallel to each other without any joining failure in a temporary setting condition before the connector housings are joined together, and preventing any abnormal load from being applied to the tab.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a joint connector for joining together connector housings of the same structure each accommodating a plurality of terminals in its terminal accommodating chamber through plural stages, such that when the side of the terminal accommodating chamber is assumed to be a front surface while an opposite side thereof is assumed to be a back face, the back face is overlaid on the front surface.
In this connector housing, a front engaging member is formed near the front of the front surface and a joining protrusion is formed on this front engaging member. A first rear lock member is formed near the rear of the front surface and a first connector temporary engaging face having a tapered face is formed on this first rear lock member. Further, a front engaging member insertion hole in which a front engaging member is to be inserted is formed near the front of the back face and a joining protrusion fitting hole to which the joining protrusion is fit is formed in this front engaging member insertion hole. A second rear lock member to engage with the first rear lock member is formed near the rear of the back face and a second connector temporary engaging face having a tapered face is formed on the second rear lock member.
In the temporary setting condition before the connector housings are joined together, the joining protrusion makes contact with an opening peripheral portion of the joining protrusion fitting hole and at the same time, the first connector temporary engaging face and the second connector temporary engaging face make contact with each other, so that the respective connector housings are maintained in a predetermined attitude.
In the joint connector of the present invention, in the temporary setting condition before the connector housings are joined together, distances between the up and down connector housings in the front and rear portions are specified. Consequently, the joined connector housings keep the predetermined attitude. Therefore, in the temporary setting condition before the connector housings are joined, the attitude can be reproduced easily and maintained in a stabilized condition. Therefore, if the connector housings are tried to be joined together from this predetermined attitude, the front engaging member is inserted smoothly into the front engaging member insertion hole and the rear engaging member is also inserted into the rear engaging member insertion hole without any prying action. As a result, the both connector housings are joined together without any inclination.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5895296 (1999-04-01), Okabe
Sato, Kei, “Joint Connector”, application Ser. No.: 09/438,769 filed, Nov. 12, 1999.
Ozawa Toshiaki
Sato Kei
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Nguyen Phuong
Ta Tho D.
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
Joint connector does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Joint connector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Joint connector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2872567