Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2001-02-27
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S372000, C439S140000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193531
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever type connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some known lever type connectors are provided with a male housing having a receptacle and carrying a lever, a female housing to be fittable into the receptacle, and a moving plate movable in the receptacle. The female housing and the moving plate are provided with cam pins that engage with cam grooves of the lever. The lever is rotated from a connection start position to a connection end position to draw the female housing and the moving plate into the receptacle by the action of cams, thereby connecting the male and female connectors.
The lever and the moving plate of the prior art lever type connector are assembled with the male housing at a factory. This housing is shipped to a site of assembling where it is assembled with a bracket and then connected with the female housing. In this case, a rotatable range of the lever during the connection is set such that the lever will not interfere with the bracket. However, a limit in the rotatable range of the lever may cause the lever to project from the outer surface of the male housing in an isolated manner before being assembled with the bracket. If the male housing is shipped in such a state, the lever may be broken by interference with other members.
To avoid this problem, the rotatable range of the lever may be made wider than its rotatable range during the connection of the housings so as to locate the lever in a position where other members are unlikely to interfere with the lever when the male housing is shipped. However, the cam pins of the moving plate are engaged with the cam grooves of the lever. Thus widening of the rotatable range of the lever means a larger moving stroke of the moving plate in the receptacle. Consequently, there is a limit in widening the rotatable range of the lever. A forcible attempt to widen the rotatable range results in the enlargement of the receptacle.
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to make the rotatable or pivotable range of a lever wider than its rotatable or pivotable range during the connection of male and female housings without changing a moving stroke of a moving plate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided a lever type connector, comprising a male housing having a receptacle. A female housing is at least partially fittable or insertable into the receptacle and has at least one cam pin. A moving plate is movable along a fitting direction in the receptacle and also has at least one cam pin. A lever having one or more cam grooves is engageable with the cam pins and is rotatably or pivotably supported on the male housing. The female housing and the moving plate are drawn into the receptacle in the fitting direction by rotating or pivoting the lever in a connection direction from the connection start position to the connection end position with the cam pins and the cam grooves engaged with each other. The lever is permitted to rotate or pivot in a direction opposite to the connection direction from the connection start position to a standby position. The standby position preferably is opposite from the connection end position. The cam grooves each are provided with a play area which is substantially not in engagement with the corresponding cam pin of the moving plate during the rotation or pivotal movement of the lever in a direction opposite to the connection direction from the connection start position toward the standby position.
Since the cam grooves of the lever and the cam pins of the moving plates are not engaged with each other during the rotation of the lever from the connection start position to the standby position, the moving plate will not move together with the lever.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the male housing is formed with a receiving portion for receiving the lever when the lever is rotated to the standby position. With the lever rotated to the standby position and received by the receiving portion, a contact force given to the lever from another member is received by the receiving portion. Accordingly, no excessive stress acts on the lever.
Preferably, the receiving portion projects from the male housing such that the lever cannot be externally reached in a direction opposite to the fitting direction. Accordingly, the lever cannot be inadvertently displaced (e.g. during shipping) by an external object hitting the connector from a side opposed to the mating side
Further preferably, the cam pins of the female housing and those of the moving plate are unitable and each pair of the united cam pins are engaged with the corresponding cam groove. Since each pair of the cam pins of the moving plate and the female connector housing are engaged with the corresponding cam grooves while being united, one cam groove is sufficient for one pair of the cam pins of the moving plate and the female connector. As a result, the lever can be made smaller.
Most preferably, the cam groove comprises a receiving inlet for receiving the corresponding cam pin upon mating the female housing with the male housing.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the male housing and/or the female housing are provided with locking means for temporarily locking the lever in the connection start position, the connection end position and/or the standby position.
The cam pins of the moving plate may be held by the inner surfaces of the play areas along the fitting direction when the lever is positioned in the standby position. Thus a loose movement of the moving plate with respect to the receptacle is prevented.
The male housing may be fittable into or onto a bracket preferably with the lever being positioned in a substantially upright position.
Still further preferably, the lever may come into contact with the bracket in a direction opposite to the connection direction when the lever is positioned in the connection start position.
Most preferably, the moving plate comprises a guide wall portion for guiding the movement of the moving plate inside the receptacle of the male housing.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5269696 (1993-12-01), Okada et al.
patent: 5395258 (1995-03-01), Okumura et al.
patent: 5460534 (1995-10-01), Taniuchi et al.
patent: 5681175 (1997-10-01), Busse et al.
patent: 6251826 (1994-09-01), None
Ito Osamu
Osawa Hiroki
Casella Anthony J.
Hammond Briggitte
Hespos Gerald E.
Luebke Renee
Porco Michael J.
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