Electrical connectors – Coupling part with actuating means urging contact to move... – Contractile receptacle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-17
2001-06-12
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Coupling part with actuating means urging contact to move...
Contractile receptacle
C439S852000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244885
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a connector in which a connection resistance, developing when connecting male and female connectors together in a telescopic manner, is reduced.
2. Related Art
A connector
50
, shown in
FIG. 4
, comprises a male connector
53
of a square tubular shape, having a strip-like male terminal
51
received therein, and a female connector
54
of a square tubular shape which has a female terminal
52
received therein, and can be generally telescopically inserted in and connected to the male connector
53
so that the male terminal
51
can be connected to the female terminal
52
capable of holding the male terminal
51
in a direction of a thickness thereof (see JP-A-5-121128; prior art).
The male connector
53
includes a generally L-shaped lid portion
55
connected to an edge of an opening through a thin hinge. The lid portion
55
is closed (as indicated in a dots-and-dash line in
FIG. 4
) after the female connector
54
is inserted into the male connector
53
, so that the female connector
54
is held against withdrawal from the male connector
53
.
The female terminal
52
has a generally square tubular shape, and includes a curved strip-like holding piece portion
57
formed integrally with a wall portion
56
.
A convexly-arcuate surface of the holding piece portion
57
is disposed in closely-spaced, opposed relation to an inner surface of a wall portion
58
. The holding piece portion
57
is urged away from the wall portion
58
by an arm member
59
provided at an outer side of the female connector
54
.
The arm member
59
is connected to the female connector
54
through a thin hinge, and a contact portion
61
of this arm member is held in contact with the convexly-arcuate surface of the holding piece portion
57
through a communication hole
60
, formed in the female connector
54
, and a through hole
58
A formed through the wall portion
58
.
In this connector
50
, when the female connector
54
is inserted into the male connector
53
, the arm member
59
is pressed by the inner surface of the male connector
53
, and therefore the contact portion
61
presses the holding piece portion
57
, so that the holding piece portion
57
is moved away from the wall portion
58
.
Therefore, in this connector
50
, a connection resistance, developing when the male terminal
51
is connected to the female terminal
52
in such a manner that the male terminal
51
is held between the wall portion
58
and the holding piece portion
57
, can be made extremely small.
In the above conventional construction, in the case where the distance or gap between the wall portion
58
and the holding piece portion
57
is too small, the connection resistance, developing during the insertion of the female connector
54
into the male connector
53
, can not be adequately reduced, and in the case where the distance between the wall portion
58
and the holding piece portion
57
is too large, there is a possibility that the male terminal
51
is incompletely connected to the female terminal
52
.
Therefore, in this conventional construction, the relative positions of the female terminal
52
and the female connector
54
, as well as the pressing dimension of the arm member
59
, is important, and therefore high shape accuracy, dimensional accuracy and position accuracy are required for the constituent members, which invites a problem that the cost becomes high.
Particularly in this conventional construction, when forming the female terminal
52
by pressing, it is necessary to effect an extremely-strict spring force control so that the holding piece portion
57
can have desired resiliency, and this invites a problem that the cost of the parts further increases.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
With the above problems in view, it is an object of this invention to provide a connector in which male and female terminals can be connected together with a small force without causing an incomplete connection, and besides the cost of parts can be reduced.
The above object has been achieved by a connector of the present invention comprising a male connector of a tubular shape, having a strip-like male terminal received therein, and a female connector of a tubular shape which has a female terminal received therein, and can be generally telescopically inserted in and connected to the male connector so that the male terminal can be connected to the female terminal having a pair of holding portions capable of holding the male terminal therebetween in a direction of a thickness of the male terminal; provided in that there is provided pressing means for pressing one of the holding portions toward the other when the female connector is inserted into the male connector.
The female terminal may be of the type in which a convexly-arcuate surface of a curved strip-like holding piece portion is disposed in opposed relation to a flat wall portion of a square tubular portion as of a conventional female terminal, or may be of the type in which convexly-arcuate surfaces of a pair of curved strip-like holding piece portions are disposed in opposed relation to each other.
The pressing means may comprise an arm member for pressing the holding portion provided on the female connector as in the conventional construction. Alternatively, the pressing means may be of the type in which a projection, formed on the inner surface of the female connector, presses the holding portion through a slit, formed in the female connector, during the insertion of the female connector into the male connector.
The pressing means is not limited to the type for pressing one of the pressing portions toward the other, but may be of the type for pressing the two holding portions toward each other.
In the connector of this construction, the two holding portions are moved toward each other by the pressing means as the female connector is inserted into the male connector, and therefore the male and female terminals can be positively connected together.
In this connector, it is only necessary that the male terminal should finally be held between the holding portions through the pressing means, and therefore high precision is not required for the initial gap between the two holding portions, the shape, dimensions, position of the constituent members, and the cost of the parts can be reduced as compared with the conventional construction.
In the invention, the gap between the two holding portions is set to a value not smaller than the thickness of the male terminal, and by doing so, a connection resistance, developing when connecting the male and female terminals together, can be made extremely small.
In the invention, the pressing means includes a communication portion, formed through a wall of the female connector in a direction of a thickness thereof, and a pressing member received in the communication portion, and the pressing member projects outwardly beyond an outer surface of the female connector, and is held in contact with one of the holding portions.
In the connector of this construction, since the pressing member is provided on the female connector, existing parts male terminal and male connector can be used.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4118093 (1978-10-01), Obeissart
patent: 5411406 (1995-05-01), Kondo
patent: 6083023 (2000-07-01), Kamath
patent: 5-62740 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 5-121128 (1993-05-01), None
Hyeon Hae Moon
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Sircus Brian
Yazaki -Corporation
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