Electrical connectors – Coupling part including flexing insulation – Hinged or flexed detent on insulation engaging to secure...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-31
2003-12-30
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Coupling part including flexing insulation
Hinged or flexed detent on insulation engaging to secure...
C439S357000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06669510
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure for locking provisionally and completely two workpieces such as a corrector housing and front holder.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8
shows an example of a conventional holder-equipped connector. A holder-equipped connector
51
includes a connector housing
52
of synthetic resin and a front holder
53
of synthetic resin that is inserted in the connector housing
52
from the front to form a terminal chamber
54
.
The connector housing
52
internally includes a holder inserting chamber
55
, a rear half
56
of the terminal chamber
54
which is successive to the inserting chamber
55
and a terminal locking lance
57
which projects into the holder inserting chamber
55
. The connector housing
52
is externally provided with a locking arm
58
corresponding to a complementary female connector (not shown).
The front holder
53
has an end wall, upper and lower walls and an intermediate partition wall. A hole
59
through which a male terminal (not shown) of a complementary male connector is formed in the end wall. In the specification, a connector having a connector chamber is defined as a female connector while another connector which is to be inserted into the connector chamber is defined as a male connector.
The front holder
53
is inserted into the connector housing
52
from its front, and fixed within the holder inserting chamber
55
by a fixing means (not shown). Subsequently, a wire-equipped terminal
60
is inserted into the terminal chamber
54
, and locked by a locking lance
57
.
Since the connector housing
52
and front holder
53
are formed as individual bodies, a complicate shape such as the locking lance
57
within the connector can be easily formed in a large scale.
Various formats have been proposed for locking the connector housing
52
and front holder
53
to each other.
FIGS. 9 and 10
show a format of a locking structure for a holder-equipped connector.
In
FIG. 9
, reference numeral
61
denotes a connector housing and reference numeral
62
denotes a front holder. The connector housing
61
has an open space
63
. On the one inner wall thereof, a provisional locking projection
64
is formed, whereas on the other inner wall thereof, a complete locking projection
65
is formed. The provisional locking projection
64
and he complete locking projection
65
are formed in order from the entrance of the open space. The front holder
62
is equipped with a projecting arm
66
that approaches into the open space
63
. The arm
66
is equipped with a provisional locking projection
67
on the one side and a complete locking projection
68
on the other side. The arm
66
has a slit-like hole (hollow portion)
69
formed at its center so that the locking projections
67
and
68
can warp inwardly.
As seen from
FIG. 9
, when the provisional locking projection
67
of the front holder
62
has climbed over the provisional locking projection
64
, the complete locking projections
65
and
68
are brought into contact with each other so that the front holder
62
is provisionally locked to the connector housing
61
. The connector housing
61
and front holder
62
, while they are in the provisionally locked state, are transported to the subsequent step.
In the subsequent step, as shown in
FIG. 10
, the front holder
62
is completely pushed into the connector housing
61
. The complete locking projection
68
climbs over the complete locking projection
65
so that the rear end of the complete locking projection
68
is brought into contact with the rear end of the complete locking projection
68
, and an end face
70
on the bottom side of the front holder
62
is brought into contact with the front end face
71
of the connector housing
61
. Thus, the front holder
62
is completely locked to the connector housing
61
. In the specification, the direction of inserting the terminal and front holder
62
into the connector housing
61
is defined as “front”.
However, in the conventional locking structure of the holder-equipped connector, the pushing force required to secure the front holder
62
provisionally is substantially equal to that required to secure the front holder
62
completely. Owing to this, where the front holder
62
provisionally locked to the connector housing
61
is transported in e.g. an automated assembling machine, the front holder
62
may interfere with the outside so that the front holder
62
is inadvertently pushed in the connector housing
61
. In this case, an operator must release the complete locking using a jig bar or the like. This is very troublesome.
It is preferred that the provisional locking can be done easily and the complete locking can be done surely with the aid of great force. However, conventionally, the complete locking force of the front holder
62
is small so that the front holder
62
is apt to be inadvertently released owing to vibration while the vehicle runs.
In addition, since the slit-like holder (hollow portion) must be formed as the center in the width direction of the arm
66
of the front holder
62
, moldability of the arm is poor during resin molding of the front holder
62
. This requires a complicate mold and hence increases the production cost.
In other cases than locking of the front holder
62
, e.g. inserting a spacer for doubly locking a terminal in the connector or electric connection box, provisional locking means and complete locking means are required. In these cases also, the above problem occurs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a structure for locking two workpieces which does not inadvertently secure completely two workpieces such as a front holder and a connector housing when they are locked to each other and can surely secure them completely with the aid of great force, and can be resin-molded easily and at low cost.
In order to attain the above object, in accordance with this invention, there is provided a structure for locking two workpieces comprising:
a first workpiece provided with a provisional locking arm and a complete locking arm which are in parallel;
a second workpiece provided with an arm receiving portion having a provisional engaging area and a complete engaging area which are to be engaged with the provisional locking arm and the complete locking arm, respectively and a pair of arm guiding portions on both sides of the arm receiving portion, the arm receiving portion being to advance in between the provisional locking arm and the complete locking arm, wherein one of the arm guiding portions is provided with a slope for slidably supporting a tip of the complete locking arm when the complete locking arm climbs over the complete engaging portion.
In the above configuration, the provisional locking arm is first engaged with the provisional engaging area of the arm receiving portion so that both workpieces are provisionally locked to each other. Next, as the first and/or the second workpiece are pushed in a combining direction, the complete locking arm warps outwardly while the complete locking arm climbs over the complete engaging area of the arm receiving portions and the outer area at the tip of the complete locking arm is brought into contact with the slope of the arm guiding portion so that the complete locking arm is supported in the sloped state on both ends. This increases the force required to warp the complete locking arm so that greater force is required for the complete locking than for he provisional locking. Thus, inadvertent shift from the provisional locking to the complete locking can be prevented. The complete locking arm climbs over the complete engaging area so that the former is engaged with the latter. Accordingly, both workpieces are completely locked to each other. When the complete locking is released, the outer area at the tip of the complete locking arm is in contact with the slope of the arm guiding portion so that the complete locking arm is supported on both ends. Therefore, greater force is requ
Kohata Takeo
Yamawaki Takanori
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Paumen Gary
Yazaki -Corporation
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