Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-30
2003-09-16
Field, Lynn (Department: 2889)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619978
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever type connector which fits a male housing to a female housing by rotating a lever mounted to the male housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a proposed lever type connector, there is a structure shown in
FIGS. 1
to
3
. A lever type connector
1
is provided with a male housing
3
, a rotatable lever
5
in which a portion between one side and another side in a longitudinal direction is connected to the male housing
3
, a connection portion
7
for connecting the lever
5
to the male housing
3
, and a female housing
9
in which the male housing
3
is received and fitted.
The male housing
3
has a plurality of terminal receiving chambers
11
in which terminals, which are not shown, are respectively received. A projection portion
13
is formed on both side surfaces in a width direction of the male housing
3
. The male housing
3
protrudes along a vertical direction of one side in the longitudinal direction, and a guide rib
17
having a through hole
15
is formed.
The lever
5
is provided with a pair of side wall
19
arranged so as to oppose each other via the male housing
3
, and an operation portion
20
which connects the side walls
19
and
19
to each other in an upper portion of another side in the longitudinal direction. A protruding portion
21
received within the through hole
15
of the guide rib
17
is provided in one side of the longitudinal direction of the side wall
19
. An engagement hole
23
engaging with the projection portion
13
of the male housing
3
is provided in the side wall
19
. An engagement projection
25
is protruded from a lower portion of an outer side surface between the protruding portion
21
and the engagement hole
23
, in the side wall
19
.
The connection portion
7
is constituted by the projection portion
13
provided in the male housing
3
, and the engagement hole
23
is provided in the lever
5
. The connection portion
7
is structured such that the projection portion
13
and the engagement hole
23
are engaged respectively so as to connect the portion between one side and another side of the lever
5
to the male housing
3
. The lever
5
rotates around the projection portion
13
.
The female housing
9
has a hood portion
27
to which the male housing
3
is fitted. An engagement groove
31
is provided along a vertical direction, on an inner peripheral surface of the hood portion
27
. The engagement groove
31
corresponds to the engagement projection
25
of the lever
5
. The engagement groove
31
of the hood portion
27
has an engagement step portion
29
with which the engagement projection
25
is engaged at a time when the lever
5
rotates. The engagement step
29
forms a supporting point together with the engagement projection
25
. A guide groove
33
to which the guide rib
17
is inserted is provided at positions corresponding to the guide rib
17
of the male housing
3
, on an inner peripheral surface of the hood portion
27
. A plurality of opposing terminals
35
connected to the terminals of the male housing
3
are protruded from a bottom surface in an inner portion of the hood portion
27
.
In the lever type connector
1
, when fitting the male housing
3
to the female housing
9
, the engagement projections
25
and
25
of the lever
5
are engaged with the engagement step portions
29
and
29
of the engagement grooves
31
and
31
in the female housing
9
so as to form a supporting point. Further, the operation portion
20
of the lever
5
is pressed to a lower portion corresponding to a front end side in a fitting direction between the male housing
3
and the female housing
9
so as to be rotated. The male housing
3
is directly pressed by the application of force to the projection portion
13
due to a lever effect of the rotating lever
5
and a pressing force for pressing the operation portion
20
. Accordingly, the male housing
3
moves downward as a whole. As a result, the male housing
3
is fitted within the hood
27
of the female housing
9
. In this state, the lever
5
is received within the hood portion
27
of the female housing
9
together with the male housing
3
.
In this case, in the lever type connector
1
proposed as mentioned above, the male housing
3
and the female housing
9
are fitted by utilizing the lever effect obtained by the lever
5
rotating around one side corresponding to the supporting point. Accordingly, it is necessary to incline the lever
5
upward from one side to another side in the longitudinal direction in a normal state. Therefore, the lever
5
is arranged obliquely with respect to the vertical direction. In this case, the normal state means a state of inclining the lever
5
upward from one side to another side in the longitudinal direction in a state that the lever is connected to the male housing
3
as shown in FIG.
2
. The direction of the force applied to the projection portion
13
of the male housing
3
due to the pressing force for pressing the operation portion
20
at a time of rotating the lever
5
is obliquely downward. As a result, in the lever type connector
1
, the male housing
3
is directly pressed downward due to a component force in a vertical direction of the force applied to the projection portion
13
, and there is generated a loss in the force which directly presses the male housing
3
downward at a degree of a component force in a direction crossing with the vertical direction of the force applied to the projection portion
13
. There is a risk that the operability of the fitting operation between the male housing
3
and the female housing
9
is reduced due to the loss of the pressing force.
However, in the lever type connector
1
, in order to compensate for the loss of the force applied to the projection portion
13
of the male housing
3
, a size between the projection portion
13
corresponding to an axis of rotation and the operation portion
20
in the lever
5
is increased by extending another side of the lever
5
. The force applied to the projection portions
13
is increased by the force due to the lever effect of the rotating lever
5
and the pressing force. Then, the operation portion
20
largely protrudes from the female housing
9
in the fitting state between the female
3
and male housings
9
. Accordingly, there is a risk that the structure is enlarged as a whole.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a lever type connector which can improve an operability of a fitting operation between female and male housings without enlarging the size.
The first aspect of the present invention provides a lever type connector comprising: a male housing; a lever in which a portion between one side and another side in a longitudinal direction is rotatably pivoted to the male housing; a female housing for receiving and fitting the male housing; a projection portion provided to either one of the male housing and the lever; and an engagement hole provided in the other of the male housing and the lever, engaging with the projection portion, wherein the engagement hole is formed to be longer toward one side of the lever with respect to the projection portion, and wherein the lever is displaceable to another side with respect to a fitting position when fitting state between the female housing and the male housing in a normal stage.
According to the first aspect structured in the manner mentioned above, when fitting the male housing to the female housing, the lever is previously displaced to another side with respect to the fitting position. In this state, one side is engaged with the side of the female housing from the connection portion of the lever so as to form the supporting point. At this time, when fitting state between the female and male housings, by displacing the lever to one side according to the rotation, the lever can be arranged at the fitting position so as to be received within the female housing together with the male housing.
The second
Okabe Toshiaki
Yamashita Tetsuya
Dinh Phuong KT
Field Lynn
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Yazaki -Corporation
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