Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-31
2003-09-02
Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S372000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06612854
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1.Technical Field
The present invention relates to a connector in which an operating force required for fitting with a counter connector is reduced by a cam function.
Further, the present invention relates to a connector having a slider which reduces an operating force required for fitting with a counter connector, and also to a connector device including such a connector.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a connector having a function of reducing an operating force required for fitting with a counter connector is known in, for example, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei10-021992.
The connector comprises a housing which holds terminals, and a holder which slidably supports the housing. A swinging lever which is a cam member is interposed between the housing and the holder. The swinging lever is attached to the housing so as to be swingable, and has a cam groove which is to be engaged with a pin disposed in a counter connector, and an engagement pin which is to be fitted into a guide groove disposed in the holder. The shapes of the cam groove and the guide groove are set so that, in accordance with relative sliding motion of the housing with respect to the holder in a state where the cam groove of the swinging lever is engaged with the pin of the counter connector and the engagement pin is engaged with the guide groove of the holder, the swinging lever swings with respect to the housing, and a force of fitting the connectors with each other is generated by the swinging.
In the connector, namely, relative sliding motion between the housing and the holder (slider) is converted by the cam function of the swinging lever into a force of fitting the connectors with each other, so that a large fitting force is obtained by a small slide operating force.
Problems to be Solved
Such a connector is assembled in the following manner. First, the swinging lever is attached to the housing so as to be swingable. While the swinging lever is held to a predetermined swinging angle position with fingers or the like in order to prevent the lever from freely swinging, the engagement pin of the swinging lever must be engaged with the guide groove of the holder. This work is complicated and cumbersome, and hence impedes improvement of the production efficiency. When terminals and wires connected thereto are mounted to the housing before the assembly work, it is more difficult to conduct the assembly work because the wires and the like obstruct the work. Therefore, the terminals and the like must be mounted after the assembly work is ended. Consequently, also the work of mounting terminals is cumbersome.
Related Art
Further, conventionally, a connector having a function of reducing an operating force required for fitting with a counter connector is known in, for example, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei11-040250.
The connector comprises a housing which holds terminals, and a support member (slider) which slidably supports the housing. A cam mechanism configured by a swinging lever and the like is interposed between the housing and the support member. In a state where the swinging lever is engaged with a driven pin of the counter connector, the housing and the support member relatively slide over each other, so that the sliding force is converted by the force boosting function of the swinging lever into a fitting force of the connectors which is larger than the sliding force.
In a connector of this kind, the relative position of the support member (slider) with respect to the housing must be held to a predetermined one in a stage where the connector has not yet been coupled with the counter connector. As means for this, the following configuration is disclosed in the patent publication. A movable arm (flexible piece) is elongated from the support member toward the housing, and a protrusion piece which inwardly protrudes is formed on an inner side face of a hood formed in the housing. A tip end portion of the movable arm abuts against the protrusion piece to fix the relative position of the housing and the support member to an initial position (provisional latching). Under this state, when this housing is to be fitted with the housing of the counter connector, a tip end portion of the housing of the counter connector pressingly opens from the inner side the tip end portion of the movable arm, whereby the provisional latching is compulsively canceled.
Problems to be Solved
In the connector disclosed in the patent publication, the movable arm for provisional latching is shaped so as to be largely elongated from the support member toward the housing. Therefore, the size of the support member is increased by the degree corresponding to the length of the movable arm, and the movable arm is easily broken in a step of transporting the support member, a step immediately before assembling, or the like. Consequently, it is difficult to handle of the connector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the invention to facilitate the work of assembling the whole of a connector and improve the production efficiency of the connector while connector fitting by a small operating force is enabled by a cam function.
Means for Solving the Problems
As means for attaining the object, the invention provides a connector wherein the connector comprises: a housing which holds a terminal that is to be fitted with a counter connector; a slider which is attached to the housing to be relatively slidable; and a cam member having a first cam portion which is engageable with a cam component disposed in the counter connector, and a second cam portion which is engageable with a cam component disposed in the slider, shapes of the first and second cam portions are set so that, when the slider relatively slides with respect to the housing in a state where the first cam portion is engaged with the cam component of the counter connector and the second cam portion is engaged with the cam component of the slider, a sliding force is converted by a cam function of the cam member into a fitting force of the connectors which is larger than the sliding force, and a latching portion is disposed in the housing, the latching portion disengageably latching the cam member to a swinging angle position where the second cam portion is engageable with the slider.
According to this configuration, the cam member is latched to a predetermined swinging angle position by the latching portion disposed in the housing, and hence the slider can be mounted to the housing without difficulty while maintaining the latched state. The latching of the cam member by the latching portion is canceled during or after the mounting. When the connector is to be fitted with the counter connector, the cam member is enabled to exert the cam function. Namely, fitting of the connector with the counter connector at a sufficient force can be realized simply by relatively sliding the housing and the slider over each other by a relatively small operating force.
The latching of the cam member may be canceled by directly operating the latching portion with, for example, fingers. Alternatively, a configuration may be employed in which a latching canceling portion which, when the slider is to be engaged with the second cam portion, compulsively cancels the latching of the cam member by the latching portion is disposed in the slider. According to this configuration, when the slider is to be mounted (i.e., the slider is to be engaged with the second cam portion), the latching canceling portion automatically cancels the latching of the cam portion, and hence the assembly work can be further simplified.
As a specific configuration for canceling the latching, preferably, a bending portion which is flexurally deformable in directions along which the bending portion is contacted with and separated from the slider is disposed in the housing, the latching portion is disposed in the bending portion, and, when the slider is to be engaged with the second cam portion, the latching canceling portion of t
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Nguyen Khiem
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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