Electrical connectors – With vehicle structure – Connection to towed vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-26
2004-02-24
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With vehicle structure
Connection to towed vehicle
C439S445000, C439S447000, C439S901000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06695621
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates towing connectors for use in towing vehicles and, more particularly, to such a towing connector, which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and, which is detachable for easy maintenance.
Various towing connectors for use in towing vehicles are known. Exemplars of towing connectors are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,951,332 and 6,027,377 (issued to the present inventor), U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,302,B1, and U.S. Des. 409,125.
FIGS. 1 and 2
show a similar prior art design. According to this design, the towing connector
8
is comprised of a top cover
81
, a sealing cap
82
, a rubber cushion
83
, a casing
84
, a 4-pole female connector
85
, a bracket
86
, a conducting wire holder block
87
, and a 4-pole male connector
88
. This conventional design has drawbacks as follows:
1. When the conducting wire holder block
87
set in the tubular shaft
841
of the casing
84
after the connection of the conducting wires
91
to the conducting wire holder block
87
, a plastic member
80
must be molded in the casing
84
to fixedly secure the conducting wire holder block
87
and the tubular shaft
841
together (see FIG.
2
). After molding, the assembly must be invertedly set in position for drying. It takes about 4~24 hours to dry the plastic member
80
. Therefore, the fabrication of this design of towing connector consumes much time and labor.
2. Because the conducting wires
91
are not detachable from the conducting wire holder block
87
after the molding of the plastic member
80
, the user cannot change the number of the conducting wires
91
to fit different male and female connectors. When damaged, the assembly of the conducting wires
91
and the conducting wire holder block
87
become useless and must be thrown away.
3. After installation of the towing connector
8
in a towing vehicle, the conducting wires
91
are exposed to the outside without protection, therefore the conducting wires
91
tend to be stretched or damaged by an external body.
The invention has been accomplished to provide a towing connector, which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. According to the present invention, the towing connector comprises housing defining a receptacle, which holds a U-shaped conducting plate and 6 metal contact plates around the U-shaped conducting plate, a 4-pole female connector mounted in an insertion hole in the housing, first conducting wires respectively connected to the metal contact plates, second conducting wires connecting the 4-pole female connector to four of the first conducting wires, a 4-pole male connector connected to the other ends of the four first conducting wires being connected to the second conducting wires, a front cover and a sealing cap pivoted to the housing and forced by a torsional spring to close the receptacle and the 4-pole female connector, a rear cap and a flexible bellows tube adapted to protect the conducting wires, and a bracket detachably fastened to the housing by screws for mounting. By means of loosening the screws, the rear cap can easily be opened so that the maintenance engineer can check or replace the conducting wires. The invention eliminates the employment of the conventional plastic member molding procedure. The metal contact plates are simultaneously and quickly installed in the housing by stamping. Further, the housing has projecting members at the rear side. The projecting members have a respective partition plate of V-shaped cross section adapted to prohibit accidental contact between the metal contact plates.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3818420 (1974-06-01), Barr
patent: 5300734 (1994-04-01), Suzuki
patent: 5380224 (1995-01-01), DiCicco
patent: 5397243 (1995-03-01), MacMurdo, Sr.
patent: 5800188 (1998-09-01), Barber et al.
patent: 6338644 (2002-01-01), Fritzinger et al.
patent: 6447302 (2002-09-01), Davis
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