Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-16
2003-07-15
Prasad, Chandrika (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S271000, C439S559000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06592384
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a waterproof low insertion force connector which fits both male and female connectors to each other by an rotation operation of a lever and includes an elastic grommet to make waterproof of the connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4
shows an example of an waterproof low insertion force connector.
In a low insertion force connector
41
, with a slider
43
slidably attached to a female connector
42
in a direction vertical to a connector fitting direction and a following projection
46
corresponding to a cam groove
45
of the slider
43
attached to a male connector
44
, both connectors
42
and
44
are fit to each other with low insertion force by the pushing operation of the slider
43
.
The fitting operation by the low insertion force is particularly efficient in the case where there are a large number of terminals in the connectors
42
and
44
. In this case, a plurality of male terminals are accommodated in the female connector
42
, and the front half tab- or pin-like electric contact of each of the male terminals is projected into a connector fitting chamber
47
at the front half of the female connector
42
. The male terminals are crimp-connected to electric wires
48
, respectively. The electric wires
48
are bundled by a vinyl tape to constitute a wire harness.
A plurality of female terminals are accommodated in the male connector
44
. The female terminals are crimp-connected to electric wires
49
, respectively. The electric wires
49
also constitute a wire harness. In this specification, the connector having the connector fitting chamber
47
is referred to as a female connector
42
, whereas the connector to be inserted or fit in the connector fitting chamber
47
is referred to as a male connector
44
.
The connector housings
51
and
52
of both connectors
42
and
44
and the slider
43
of the female connector
42
are made of synthetic resin. The slider
43
is formed in a shape of a rectangular plate. The slider
43
is provisionally locked by a provisional locking means such as a projection in a state where it has been slightly inserted in the connector fitting chamber
47
from a slit-like opening
50
on the outer wall of the connector housing
51
.
A cam groove
45
of the slider
43
is recessed in a longitudinal direction from the tip side of the slider
43
. The cam groove
45
is composed of an opening
53
at the starting side opposite to the front opening of the connector fitting chamber
47
, a slope
54
sloping in the connector fitting direction from the opening
53
and a short locking straight portion
55
at the terminating side of the slope
54
.
The following projection
46
which is formed in a shape of a short cylinder is attached to the inner wall of the male connector housing
52
so as to correspond to the cam groove
45
. The male connector housing
52
has a left and right terminal fitting chambers (represented by
52
). The following projection
46
is located in the slit-like spacer advancing space between both terminal fitting chambers
52
.
The female connector housing
51
has locking arms
56
on the outer wall. The locking arms
56
are engaged with the periphery of the hole
58
of a panel
57
of e.g. a motor vehicle. The panel
57
is sandwiched by the locking arms
56
and the flange
59
at the rear of the female connector housing
51
so that the female connector
42
is locked.
A waterproof rubber grommet
60
is fit over the flange
59
and its front end is in intimate contact with the rear surface of the panel
57
. This prevents water from invading the hole
58
of the panel
57
. The wire harness (represented by
48
) is passed inside the grommet
60
. The end on the smaller diameter side of the grommet
60
is fixed to the wire harness
48
by winding of vinyl tape. The female connector
42
including the slider
43
, male connector
44
and grommet
60
constitute a waterproof low insertion force connector
41
.
As the panel
57
, a panel such as a door for a motor vehicle, slide door, etc. is employed. The above low insertion force connector
41
is used to connect the electric appliance or auxiliary machine within the door to a battery power source on the side of a vehicle body.
As seen from
FIG. 4
, with the female connector
42
secured to the panel
57
and the slider
43
provisionally locked in a state to be projected long in an extracting direction, the connector
44
is initially fit in the connector fitting chamber
47
. Thus, the following projection
46
advances into the opening
53
on the starting side of the slider
43
. In this state, the slider
43
is strongly pushed into the female connector
42
so that the following projection
46
is pulled along the cam groove
45
in the connector fitting direction. Simultaneously, the male connector
44
is inserted/fit into the female connector
42
. The slider
43
is completely locked in the connector housing
51
by the locking means such as the locking arm
61
.
However, in the above waterproof low insertion force connector
41
, in order to make connector fitting with low insertion force, the gradient of the cam groove
45
of the slider
43
must be set gently and the length thereof must be set long. Therefore, the slider
43
becomes lengthy so that the female connector
42
becomes large in the width direction, and the area required for the female connector
42
to be attached to the panel
57
is increased. Further, while the motor vehicle runs, the locking of the slider
43
is released owing to vibration or shock so that the slider
43
may move in a coming-off direction and the fitting between both connectors
42
and
44
may be loosed, thereby making electric connection incomplete.
The present invention intends to provide a water-proof low insertion force connector which can prevent an increase in the size of a connector and its attaching area due to the presence of a slider, surely fit the connector with low insertion force and prevent inadvertent looseness or coming-off of connector fitting due to vibration or shock of a motor vehicle to assure good electrical connection.
In order to attain the above object, in accordance with this invention, there is provided a waterproof low insertion force connector comprising:
a lever for fitting a male and a female connector to each other by its rotating operation; and
an elastic grommet for waterproofing the connectors, wherein the lever has an auxiliary flange and the grommet has an engagement portion to be engaged with the auxiliary flange when both connectors are completely fit to each other.
In accordance with the above configuration, both connectors are fit to each other by the rotating operation of the lever so that the space required to operate the lever is reduced as compared with the conventional slider and force-boosting effect is improved. The auxiliary flange is engaged with the engagement portion of the grommet when both connectors have been completely fit to each other so that the lever is fixed and the rotation of the lever in a returning direction is stopped. Therefore, the inadvertent looseness and coming-off of both connectors is prevented. Where both connectors are incompletely fitted to each other, the auxiliary flange is not fit in the engagement portion of the grommet and causes the grommet to swell outwardly so that the grommet cannot be mounted smoothly. In addition, since the an operator becomes aware of abnormality of the appearance, half-fitting (incomplete fitting) is detected. Further, since the lever is fixed by the elastic grommet, undue force does not act on the lever, the deformation or damage of the lever is prevented and engagement/positioning of the auxiliary flange in the engagement portion can be easily performed.
In a preferred embodiment, one of the connectors has a flange formed integrally to its housing, and when both connectors are completely fit to each other, the auxiliary flange and the flange are flush with each other and the engagement portion is
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Prasad Chandrika
Yazaki -Corporation
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