Electrical connectors – With indicating or identifying provision
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-03
2002-03-26
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With indicating or identifying provision
C439S701000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06361355
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a splice-absorbing connector which eliminates a splice between wires, branched respectively from sub-harnesses, and more particularly to a splice-absorbing connector in which a plurality of sub-housings are stacked together to form a connector housing.
2. Related Art
FIG. 14
shows a partially cross sectional view of a conventional joint absorbing connector, and the detailed description is described hereinbelow. In
FIG. 14
, a reference numeral
100
′ is a joint absorbing connector such that a bus bar
120
′ is inserted into a connector housing
110
′ made of a resin. A plurality of connector fitting portion
111
′ are integrally molded to the connector housing
110
′, and tub terminals
121
′ erect from the bus bar
120
′ at an inner side of the connector fitting portion.
Wires are branched from sub-harnesses more than two pieces (not shown), and a mating connector (male connector) is attached with each wire. Each mating connector is fitted to each connector fitting portion
111
′ of the connector housing
110
′ to connect wires branched from sub-harnesses to each other so as to form a wire-harness.
Next, a conventional splice absorbing connector will described along with
FIGS. 15 and 16
.
FIG. 15
shows a conventional splice absorbing connector; FIG.
15
(
a
) shows a transverse sectional view and FIG.
15
(
b
) shows a longitudinal cross sectional view.
FIG. 16
shows an illustration of a connecting condition of the sub-harness through the splice absorbing connector. In FIGS.
15
(
a
) and (
b
), a connector housing
210
′ of a splice absorbing connector
200
′ has terminal accommodating chambers
211
′ divided by a plurality of holding grooves
212
′.
On the other hand, wires
31
a
′ and
32
a
′ are divided from at least more than two sub-harnesses (as shown in FIG.
16
). A terminal
220
′ is press-fitted to each wires
31
a
′ and
32
a
′, and has an elastic contact portion
221
′.
As shown in FIGS.
16
and
15
(
a
), after assembling the sub-harnesses
31
′ and
32
′, each terminal
220
′ of the wire
31
a
′, and
32
a
is fitted into each holding groove
212
of a connector housing
210
′ so that the terminals
220
′ adjacent each other are elastically contacted in the terminal accommodating chambers
211
′ to connect the wires
31
a
′ and
32
a
′ each other so as to form the wire harness.
However, in the conventional joint absorbing connector
100
′, the structure of the connector housing
110
′ and bus bar
120
′ are determined in accordance with a number of wires branched from sub-harness
31
′ or the bus-bar
120
′. Thus, when the sub-harness condition is changed, the housing
110
′ or the bus bar
120
′ is newly designed along with the sub-harness condition. Namely, the conventional joint absorbing connector
100
′ could not flexibility follow the change of the sub-harness condition.
Further, this structure requires the joint absorbing connector
100
′ and a mating connector fitted to the joint absorbing connector
100
′. As a result, the circuit located in an automobile is increased and the joint absorbing connector
110
′ becomes large along with the complication.
Moreover, in the splice absorbing connector
200
′, after assembling the sub-harness
31
′ and
32
′, each terminal
220
′ press-fitted to the wire
31
a
′ or
32
a
′ branched from the sub-harnesses
31
′ or
32
′ is press-fitted into the each holding groove
212
′ of the connector housing
210
′. This work lead to the reduce the workability of wire harness.
Further, each terminal
220
′ is connected in a transverse or longitudinal direction. As a result, the circuit located in an automobile is increased, and the joint absorbing connector
110
′ becomes in large in the transverse or longitudinal direction along with the complication.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
With the above problem in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a splice-absorbing connector in which the connector construction can flexibly meet a change in the number of wires, the overall size of connector can be made compact and the efficiency of production of the wire harness can be enhanced.
It is another object of this invention to provide a splice-absorbing connector in which the order of stacking of sub-housings can be clearly identified from the appearance so that an error in the order of stacking of the sub-housings can be prevented and that it can be immediately judged where and how the stacking order is erroneous.
According to the present invention, there is provided a splice-absorbing connector wherein a connector housing comprises a plurality of sub-housings stacked together;
provided in that order identification portions, which mean stack order positions of the sub-housings, respectively, and are different in appearance from one another, are formed respectively on one surfaces of the sub-housings which do not overlap each other, and are disposed in a common plane. For example, the order identification portion of each of the sub-housings comprises a number mark indicated on the one surface thereof, and the number of the number mark of each sub-housing is the same as the stack order position number thereof.
With this construction, when assembling the splice-absorbing connector, the sub-housings are stacked together in accordance with the order identification portions (numbers or others) formed respectively on the one surfaces of the sub-housings, and by doing so, an error in the stacking order can be prevented.
Preferably, when the sub-housings are stacked together in correct order, the order identification portions of the sub-housings jointly form a pattern of a predetermined regularity.
For example, the order identification portion of each of the sub-housings comprises three-dimensional or planar marks which are formed on the one surface thereof at equal intervals in a juxtaposed manner, and the number of the marks is the same as the stack order position number thereof. Alternatively, the order identification portions of the sub-housings are formed respectively by different colors applied respectively to the one surfaces of the sub-housings.
With this construction, when assembling the splice-absorbing connector, the sub-housings are stacked together in accordance with the order identification portions (three-dimensional or planar marks or colors corresponding to the respective stack order positions) formed respectively on the one surfaces of the sub-housings, and by doing so, an error in the stacking order can be prevented.
When the sub-housings are stacked together in the correct order, the order identification portions of these sub-housings jointly form the pattern of the predetermined regularity. Therefore, the operator, when taking a look at this pattern, can immediately judge whether or not the stacking order is correct, and also can immediately judge where and how the stacking order is erroneous.
For example, the order identification portion of each of the sub-housings comprises three-dimensional or planar marks whose number is the same as the stack order position number thereof. In this case, when the sub-housings are stacked together in the correct order, the three-dimensional or planar marks of the order identification portions jointly form such a three-dimensional or planar configuration pattern of a predetermined regularity that the number of the marks is increased one by one in the sequence from the first-stage sub-housing toward the last-stage sub-housing.
For example, the order identification portions of the sub-housings are formed respectively by different colors applied respectively to the one surfaces of the sub-housings. In this case, when the sub-housings are stacked together in the correct order, the colors of these sub
Matsuoka Yutaka
Sakamoto Masami
Hyeon Hae Moon
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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